Khmer numerals

File:4 fonts of Khmer Numbers.png

The Khmer numerals depicted in four different typographical variants comparing to Arabic numerals (blue).

Template:Contains special charactersTemplate:IPA notice Khmer numerals ០ ១ ២ ៣ ៤ ៥ ៦ ៧ ៨ ៩ are the numerals used in the Khmer language. They have been in use since at least the early 7th century.

Numerals

File:Khmer Numerals - 605 from the Sambor inscriptions.jpg

The number 605 in Khmer numerals, from the Sambor inscriptions in 683 AD. The earliest known material use of zero as a decimal figure.

Having been derived from the Hindu numerals, modern Khmer numerals also represent a decimal positional notation system. It is the script with the first extant material evidence of zero as a numerical figure, dating its use back to the seventh century, two centuries before its certain use in India. Old Khmer, or Angkorian Khmer, also possessed separate symbols for the numbers 10, 20, and 100.

Each multiple of 20 or 100 would require an additional stroke over the character, so the number 47 was constructed using the 20 symbol with an additional upper stroke, followed by the symbol for number 7. This inconsistency with its decimal system suggests that spoken Angkorian Khmer used a vigesimal system.

As both Thai and Lao scripts are derived from Old Khmer, their modern forms still bear many resemblances to the latter, demonstrated in the following table:

Value	Khmer	Thai	Lao
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Modern Khmer numbers

The spoken names of modern Khmer numbers represent a biquinary system, with both base 5 and base 10 in use. For example, 6 () is formed from 5 () plus 1 ().

A chart in Khmer with Khmer numerals and numbers

Khmer numbers

Numbers from 0 to 5

With the exception of the number 0, which stems from Sanskrit, the etymology of the Khmer numbers from 1 to 5 is of proto-Austroasiatic origin.

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
0				Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	From Sanskrit Template:Transliteration
1				Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Before a classifier, is reduced to in regular speech.
2			,	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
3				Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
4				Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
5				Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration

• For details of the various alternative romanization systems, see Romanization of Khmer.
• Some authors may alternatively mark as the pronunciation for the word two, and either or for the word three.
• In neighbouring Thailand the number three is thought to bring good luck. However, in Cambodia, taking a picture with three people in it is considered bad luck, as it is believed that the person situated in the middle will die an early death.

Comparison to other Austroasiatic languages 1-5

Whilst Vietnamese vocabulary is very Sinicized, the numbers 1-5 retain proto-Austroasiatic origins.

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN		Vietnamese	Muong language	Mon language	Bru language	Khmu language
1				muŏy		một	mốch	mo̤a	mui	/mò:j/
2			,	pir		hai	hal	ɓa	bar	/pà:r/
3				bei		ba	pa	pɔeʔ	pei	/péɂ/
4				buŏn		bốn	pổn	pɔn	pon	/sí:/
5				brăm		năm	đằm	pəsɔn	shăng	/há:/

Numbers from 6 to 20

The numbers from 6 to 9 may be constructed by adding any number between 1 and 4 to the base number 5 (), so that 7 is literally constructed as 5 plus 2. Beyond that, Khmer uses a decimal base, so that 14 is constructed as 10 plus 4, rather than 2 times 5 plus 4; and 16 is constructed as 10+5+1.

Colloquially, compound numbers from eleven to nineteen may be formed using the word preceded by any number from one to nine, so that 15 is constructed as , instead of the standard .

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
6				brămmuŏy	brammuoy	prāṃmuay
7			,	brămpir	brampir	prāṃbīr
8				brămbei	brambei	prāṃpī
9				brămbuŏn	brambuon	prāṃpuan
10				dáb	dab	ṭáp	From an archaic Chinese form *.
11				dábmuŏy	dabmuoy	ṭápmuay	Colloquially muŏydândáb .
20			, ,	mphey	mphey	mbhai	Contraction of + (i.e. one + twenty)

• In constructions from 6 to 9 that use 5 as a base, may alternatively be pronounced ; giving , , , and . This is especially true in dialects which elide , but not necessarily restricted to them, as the pattern also follows Khmer's minor syllable pattern.

Numbers from 30 to 90

The modern Khmer numbers from 30 to 90 are as follows:

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
30				samsĕb	samseb	sāmsip	From Thai สามสิบ sam sip
40				sêsĕb	saeseb	saesip	From Thai, si sip
50				hasĕb	haseb	hāsip	From Thai, hasip
60				hŏksĕb	hokseb	huksip	From Thai, hoksip
70				chĕtsĕb	chetseb	citsip	From Thai, chetsip
80				pêtsĕb	paetseb	p″aetsip	From Thai, paetsip
90				kausĕb	kauseb	kausip	From Thai, kaosip

• The word , which appears in each of these numbers, can be dropped in informal or colloquial speech. For example, the number 81 can be expressed as instead of the full .

Historically speaking, Khmer borrowed the numbers from 30 to 90 from a southern Middle Chinese variety by way of a neighboring Tai language, most likely Thai. This is evidenced by the fact that the numbers in Khmer most closely resemble those of Thai, as well as the fact that the numbers cannot be deconstructed in Khmer. For instance, is not used on its own to mean "four" in Khmer and is not used on its own to mean "ten", while they are in Thai (see Thai numerals). The table below shows how the words in Khmer compare to other nearby Tai and Sinitic languages.

Language comparison

Value	Khmer	Southwestern Tai			Northern Tai	Sinitic
		Thai	Archaic Thai	Lao	S. Zhuang	Nanning	Cantonese	Teochew	Hokkien	Mandarin
3 ‒		sam	sǎam	sãam	ɬaːm1	ɬam41	saam1	sã1	sa1 (sam1)	sān
4 ‒		si	sài	sii	ɬi5	ɬi55	sei3	si3	si3 (su3)	sì
5 ‒		ha	ngùa	hàa	ha3	ŋ̩13	ng5	ŋou6	go2 (ngo2)	wǔ
6 ‒		hok	lòk	hók	huk7	løk24	luk6	lak8	lak2 (liok8)	liù
7 ‒		chet	jèd	jét	tɕit7	tsʰɐt33	cat1	tsʰik4	chit2	qī
8 ‒		paet	pàed	pàet	pet7	pat33	baat3	poiʔ4	pueh4 (pat4)	bā
9 ‒		kao	jao	kâo	kau3	kou33	gau2	kao2	kau4 (kiu2)	jiǔ
10 ‒		sip	jǒng	síp	ɬip7	ɕɐp22	sap6	tsap8	tzhap2 (sip8)	shí

• Words in parentheses indicate literary pronunciations, while words preceded by an asterisk only occur in specific constructions and are not used for basic numbers from 3 to 10.

Prior to using a decimal system and adopting these words, Khmer used a base 20 system, so that numbers greater than 20 were formed by multiplying or adding on to the cardinal number for twenty. Under this system, 30 would've been constructed as (20 × 1) + 10 "twenty-one ten" and 80 was constructed as 4 × 20 "four twenties / four scores". See the section Angkorian numbers for details.

Numbers from 100 to 10,000,000

The standard Khmer numbers starting from one hundred are as follows:

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
100			(, )	muŏy rôy	muoy roy	muay raya	From Thai, roi.
1,000				muŏy poăn	muoy poan	muaya bân	From Thai, phan.
10,000				muŏy mœn	muoy mueun	muaya mȳna	From Thai, muen.
100,000				muŏy sên	muoy saen	muaya saena	From Thai, saen.
1,000,000				muŏy léan	muoy lean	muaya lâna	From Thai, lan.
10,000,000				muŏy kaôdĕ	muoy kaot	muaya koṭi	From Sanskrit and Pali koṭi.

Although is most commonly used to mean ten million, in some areas this is also colloquially used to refer to one billion (which is more properly ). In order to avoid confusion, sometimes is used to mean ten million, along with for one hundred million, and ("one thousand million") to mean one billion.

Different Cambodian dialects may also employ different base number constructions to form greater numbers above one thousand. A few of the such can be observed in the following table:

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
10,000				dáb poăn	dab poan	ṭáp bân	lit. "ten thousand"
100,000				dáb mœŭn	dab mueun	ṭáp mȳna	lit. "ten ten-thousand"
100,000				muŏy rôy poăn	muoy roy poan	muaya raya bân	lit. "one hundred thousand"
1,000,000				muŏy rôy mœn	muoy roy mueun	muaya raya mȳna	lit. "one hundred ten-thousand"
10,000,000				dáb léan	dab lean	ṭáp lāna	lit. "ten million"
100,000,000				muŏy rôy léan	muoy roy lean	muaya raya lāna	lit. "one hundred million"
1,000,000,000				muŏy poăn léan	muoy poan lean	muaya bân lāna	lit. "one thousand million"

Counting fruits

Reminiscent of the standard base 20 Angkorian Khmer numbers, the modern Khmer language also possesses separate words used to count fruits, not unlike how English uses words such as a "dozen" for counting items such as eggs.

Value	Khmer	Word form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
4		,		dâmbâ, dâmbâr	damba	ṭaṃpa
40				phlon	phloun	phlūna	From (pre-)Angkorian *plon "40"
80			,	pir phlon	pi phloun	bīra phlūna	Lit. "two forty"
400				slœ̆k	sloek	slẏka	From (pre-)Angkorian *slik "400"

Sanskrit and Pali influence

As a result of prolonged literary influence from both the Sanskrit and Pali languages, Khmer may occasionally use borrowed words for counting. Generally speaking, asides a few exceptions such as the numbers for 0 and 100 for which the Khmer language has no equivalent, they are more often restricted to literary, religious, and historical texts than they are used in day to day conversations. One reason for the decline of these numbers is that a Khmer nationalism movement, which emerged in the 1960s, attempted to remove all words of Sanskrit and Pali origin. The Khmer Rouge also attempted to cleanse the language by removing all words which were considered politically incorrect.

Value	Khmer	Word form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
10				tôs	tos	dasa	From Sanskrit and Pali, dasa
12			,	tvéatôs	tveatos, tveateaksak	dvādasa	From Sanskrit and Pali dvādasa
13 or 30	or			treitôs	treitos	trīdasa	From Sanskrit and Pali, trayodasa
28				âsdapisâ	asdapisa	‛astābīsa	From Sanskrit (8, aṣṭá-) (20, vimsati)
100				sâtâ	saktak	sata	From Sanskrit, sata

Ordinal numbers

Khmer ordinal numbers are formed by placing the word in front of a cardinal number. This is similar to the use of ที่ thi in Thai, and thứ (次) in Vietnamese.

Meaning	Khmer	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
First			ti muŏy	ti muoy	dī muaya
Second		,	ti pir	ti pi	dī bīra
Third			ti bĕi	ti bei	dī pī

Angkorian numbers

It is generally assumed that the Angkorian and pre-Angkorian numbers also represented a dual base (quinquavigesimal) system, with both base 5 and base 20 in use. Unlike modern Khmer, the decimal system was highly limited, with both the numbers for ten and one hundred being borrowed from the Chinese and Sanskrit languages respectively. Angkorian Khmer also used Sanskrit numbers for recording dates, sometimes mixing them with Khmer originals, a practice which has persisted until the last century.

The numbers for twenty, forty, and four hundred may be followed by multiplying numbers, with additional digits added on at the end, so that 27 is constructed as twenty-one-seven, or 20×1+7.

Value	Khmer	Orthography	Notes
1		mvay
2		vyar
3		pi
4		pvan
5		pram	(7 : pramvyar or pramvyal)
10		tap	From an archaic Chinese form *.
20		bhai
40		plon
80		bhai pvan	Literally "four twenty"
100		çata	Sanskrit (100, sata).
400		slik

Proto-Khmer numbers

Proto-Khmer is the hypothetical ancestor of the modern Khmer language bearing various reflexes of the proposed proto-Mon–Khmer language. By comparing both modern Khmer and Angkorian Khmer numbers to those of other Eastern Mon–Khmer (or Khmero-Vietic) languages such as Pearic, Proto-Viet–Muong, Katuic, and Bahnaric; it is possible to establish the following reconstructions for Proto-Khmer.

Numbers from 5 to 10

Contrary to later forms of the Khmer numbers, Proto-Khmer possessed a single decimal number system. The numbers from one to five correspond to both the modern Khmer language and the proposed Mon–Khmer language, while the numbers from six to nine do not possess any modern remnants, with the number ten *kraaj (or *kraay) corresponding to the modern number for one hundred. It is likely that the initial *k, found in the numbers from six to ten, is a prefix.

Value	Khmer	Reconstruction	Notes
5		*pram
6		*
7		*knuul
8		*ktii	Same root as the word hand, *tii.
9		*ksaar
10		*kraaj	Corresponds to present-day (one hundred).

References

General

Specific