File:Khmer_sample_script.svg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Khmer
Sign in to saveAlso known as Khmer script, Khmer alphabet, Khmr
abugida script for the Cambodian (Khmer) language
Key facts
- Script type
- Abugida
- Period
- c. 611 – present
- Direction
- Left-to-right
- Official script
- Cambodia
- Languages
- Khmer Sanskrit Pali Jarai Northern Khmer
- Parent systems
- Egyptian Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic (debated) Brahmi script Tamil-Brahmi Pallava Khmer
- Child systems
- Sukhothai , Khom Thai , Lai Tay
- Sister systems
- Old Mon , Cham , Kawi , Grantha , Tamil
- Iso 15924
- Khmr (355) , Khmer
- Unicode alias
- Khmer
- Unicode range
- U+1780–U+17FF Khmer U+19E0–U+19FF Khmer Symbols
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- AncientKhmerScript.jpg
Show 4 more facts
- name
- khmer
- Commons category
- Khmer script
- Unicode range
- U+19E0-19FF
- inception
- 0611-00-00
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~27 min read
Article
Khmer script (Khmer: អក្សរខ្មែរ, Âksâr Khmêr [ʔaksɑː kʰmae]) is an abugida (alphasyllabary) script used to write the Khmer language, the official language of Cambodia. It is also used to write Pali in the Buddhist liturgy of Cambodia and Thailand.
Khmer is written from left to right. Words within the same sentence or phrase are generally run together with no spaces between them. Consonant clusters within a word are "stacked", with the second (and occasionally third) consonant being written in reduced form under the main consonant. Originally there were 35 consonant characters, but modern Khmer uses only 33. Each character represents a consonant sound together with an inherent vowel, either â or ô; in many cases, in the absence of another vowel mark, the inherent vowel is to be pronounced after the consonant.