Khmer numerals

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.^[1][2]

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

Numerals

The number 605 in Khmer numerals, from the Sambor inscriptions in 683 AD. The earliest known material use of zero as a decimal figure.^[3]

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.^[1][4] Old Khmer, or Angkorian Khmer, also possessed separate symbols for the numbers 10, 20, and 100.^[5]

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.^[5] 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,^[6] their modern forms still bear many resemblances to the latter, demonstrated in the following table:

Value	Khmer	Thai	Lao
0	០	๐	໐
1	១	๑	໑
2	២	๒	໒
3	៣	๓	໓
4	៤	๔	໔
5	៥	๕	໕
6	៦	๖	໖
7	៧	๗	໗
8	៨	๘	໘
9	៩	๙	໙

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 (ប្រាំមួយ) is formed from 5 (ប្រាំ) plus 1 (មួយ).

Khmer numbers new update-13 November.jpg

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	០	សូន្យ	[soːn]	sony	souny	sūny	From Sanskrit śūnya
1	១	មួយ	[muəj]	muŏy	muoy	muay	Before a classifier, [muəj] is reduced to [mə] in regular speech.[7]
2	២	ពីរ	[piː], [pɨl]	pir	pir	bīr
3	៣	បី	[ɓej]	bei	bei	pī
4	៤	បួន	[ɓuən]	buŏn	buon	puan
5	៥	ប្រាំ	[pram]	brăm	bram	prāṃ

• For details of the various alternative romanization systems, see Romanization of Khmer.
• Some authors may alternatively mark [ɓiː] as the pronunciation for the word two, and either [ɓəj] or [ɓei] for the word three.
• In neighbouring Thailand the number three is thought to bring good luck.^[8] 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.^[9][10]

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	១	មួយ	[muəj]	muŏy		một	mốch	mo̤a	mui	/mò:j/
2	២	ពីរ	[piː], [pɨl]	pir		hai	hal	ɓa	bar	/pà:r/
3	៣	បី	[ɓəj]	bei		ba	pa	pɔeʔ	pei	/péɂ/
4	៤	បួន	[ɓuən]	buŏn		bốn	pổn	pɔn	pon	/sí:/
5	៥	ប្រាំ	[pram]	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 (ប្រាំ), 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 ដណ្ដប់ [dɔnɗɑp] preceded by any number from one to nine, so that 15 is constructed as ប្រាំដណ្ដប់ [pram dɔnɗɑp], instead of the standard ដប់ប្រាំ [ɗɑp pram].^[11]

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
6	៦	ប្រាំមួយ	[prammuəj]	brămmuŏy	brammuoy	prāṃmuay
7	៧	ប្រាំពីរ	[prampiː], [prampɨl]	brămpir	brampir	prāṃbīr
8	៨	ប្រាំបី	[pramɓəj]	brămbei	brambei	prāṃpī
9	៩	ប្រាំបួន	[pramɓuən]	brămbuŏn	brambuon	prāṃpuan
10	១០	ដប់	[ɗɑp]	dáb	dab	ṭáp	Old Chinese *[di̯əp].[12]
11	១១	ដប់មួយ	[ɗɑpmuəj]	dábmuŏy	dabmuoy	ṭápmuay	Colloquially មួយដណ្ដប់ muŏydândáb [muəj dɔnɗɑp].
20	២០	ម្ភៃ	[mpʰej], [məpʰɨj], [mpʰɨj]	mphey	mphey	mbhai	Contraction of [muəj] + [pʰəj] (i.e. one + twenty)

• In constructions from 6 to 9 that use 5 as a base, [pram] may alternatively be pronounced [pəm]; giving [pəmmuəj], [pəmpiː], [pəmɓəj], and [pəmɓuːən]. This is especially true in dialects which elide [r], 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	៣០	សាមសិប	[saːm.səp]	samsĕb	samseb	sāmsip	From Thai สามสิบ sam sip
40	៤០	សែសិប	[sae.səp]	sêsĕb	saeseb	saesip	From Thai, สี่สิบ si sip
50	៥០	ហាសិប	[haːsəp]	hasĕb	haseb	hāsip	From Thai, ห้าสิบ hasip
60	៦០	ហុកសិប	[hok.səp]	hŏksĕb	hokseb	huksip	From Thai, หกสิบ hoksip
70	៧០	ចិតសិប	[cət.səp]	chĕtsĕb	chetseb	citsip	From Thai, เจ็ดสิบ chetsip
80	៨០	ប៉ែតសិប	[paet.səp]	pêtsĕb	paetseb	p″aetsip	From Thai, แปดสิบ paetsip
90	៩០	កៅសិប	[kaw.səp]	kausĕb	kauseb	kausip	From Thai, เก้าสิบ kaosip

• The word សិប [səp], which appears in each of these numbers, can be dropped in informal or colloquial speech. For example, the number 81 can be expressed as ប៉ែតមួយ [paet.muəj] instead of the full ប៉ែតសិបមួយ [paet.səp.muəj].

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.^[5] 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, សែ [sae] is not used on its own to mean "four" in Khmer and សិប [səp] 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[13]	Nanning[14]	Cantonese	Teochew	Hokkien	Mandarin
3 ‒	*saːm	sam	sǎam	sãam	ɬaːm1	ɬam41	saam1	sã1	sa1 (sam1)	sān
4 ‒	*sɐe	si	sài	sii	ɬi5	ɬi55	sei3	si3	si3 (su3)	sì
5 ‒	*haː	ha	ngùa	hàa	ha3	ŋ̩13	ng5	ŋou6	go2 (ngo2)	wǔ
6 ‒	*hok	hok	lòk	hók	huk7	løk24	luk6	lak8	lak2 (liok8)	liù
7 ‒	*cət	chet	jèd	jét	tɕit7	tsʰɐt33	cat1	tsʰik4	chit2	qī
8 ‒	*pɐət	paet	pàed	pàet	pet7	pat33	baat3	poiʔ4	pueh4 (pat4)	bā
9 ‒	*kaw	kao	jao	kâo	kau3	kou33	gau2	kao2	kau4 (kiu2)	jiǔ
10 ‒	*səp	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[15]
100	១០០	មួយរយ	[muəj.rɔːj] ([rɔːj], [mə.rɔːj])	muŏy rôy	muoy roy	muay raya	From Thai, ร้อย roi.
1,000	១,០០០	មួយពាន់	[muəj.pŏən]	muŏy poăn	muoy poan	muaya bân	From Thai, พัน phan.
10,000	១០,០០០	មួយម៉ឺន	[muəj.məɨn]	muŏy mœn	muoy mueun	muaya mȳna	From Thai, หมื่น muen.
100,000	១០០,០០០	មួយសែន	[muəj.saen]	muŏy sên	muoy saen	muaya saena	From Thai, แสน saen.
1,000,000	១,០០០,០០០	មួយលាន	[muəj.lien]	muŏy léan	muoy lean	muaya lâna	From Thai, ล้าน lan.
10,000,000	១០,០០០,០០០	មួយកោដិ	[muəj.kaot]	muŏy kaôdĕ	muoy kaot	muaya koṭi	From Sanskrit and Pali koṭi.

Although មួយកោដិ [muəj kaot] 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 មួយរយកោដិ [muəj rɔj kaot]). In order to avoid confusion, sometimes ដប់លាន [ɗɑp.liən] is used to mean ten million, along with មួយរយលាន [muəj.rɔj.liən] for one hundred million, and មួយពាន់លាន [muəj.pŏən.liən] ("one thousand million") to mean one billion.^[16]

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[16][17]	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
10,000	១០,០០០	ដប់ពាន់	[ɗɑp pŏən]	dáb poăn	dab poan	ṭáp bân	lit. "ten thousand"
100,000	១០០,០០០	ដប់ម៉ឺន	[ɗɑp məɨn]	dáb mœŭn	dab mueun	ṭáp mȳna	lit. "ten ten-thousand"
100,000	១០០,០០០	មួយរយពាន់	[muəj rɔj pŏən]	muŏy rôy poăn	muoy roy poan	muaya raya bân	lit. "one hundred thousand"
1,000,000	១,០០០,០០០	មួយរយម៉ឺន	[muəj rɔj məɨn]	muŏy rôy mœn	muoy roy mueun	muaya raya mȳna	lit. "one hundred ten-thousand"
10,000,000	១០,០០០,០០០	ដប់លាន	[ɗɑp liən]	dáb léan	dab lean	ṭáp lāna	lit. "ten million"
100,000,000	១០០,០០០,០០០	មួយរយលាន	[muəj rɔj liən]	muŏy rôy léan	muoy roy lean	muaya raya lāna	lit. "one hundred million"
1,000,000,000	១,០០០,០០០,០០០	មួយពាន់លាន	[muəj pŏən liən]	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.^[18]

Value	Khmer	Word form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
4	៤	ដំប, ដំបរ	[dɑmbɑː]	dâmbâ, dâmbâr	damba	ṭaṃpa
40	៤០	ផ្លូន	[pʰloun]	phlon	phloun	phlūna	From (pre-)Angkorian *plon "40"
80	៨០	ពីរផ្លូន	[piː ploun], [pɨl ploun]	pir phlon	pi phloun	bīra phlūna	Lit. "two forty"
400	៤០០	ស្លឹក	slək	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.^[19]

Value	Khmer	Word form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
10	១០	ទស	[tŭəh]	tôs	tos	dasa	From Sanskrit and Pali, dasa
12	១២	ទ្វាទស	[tviətŭəh], [tviətĕəsaʔ]	tvéatôs	tveatos, tveateaksak	dvādasa	From Sanskrit and Pali dvādasa
13 or 30	១៣ or ៣០	ត្រីទស	[trəjtŭəh]	treitôs	treitos	trīdasa	From Sanskrit and Pali, trayodasa
28	២៨	អស្តាពីស	[ʔahsɗaːpiːsɑː]	âsdapisâ	asdapisa	‛astābīsa	From Sanskrit (8, aṣṭá-) (20, vimsati)
100	១០០	សត	[sataʔ]	sâtâ	saktak	sata	From Sanskrit, sata

Ordinal numbers

Khmer ordinal numbers are formed by placing the word ទី [tiː] in front of a cardinal number.^[20][5] 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	ទីមួយ	[tiː muəj]	ti muŏy	ti muoy	dī muaya
Second	ទីពីរ	[tiː piː], [tiː pɨl]	ti pir	ti pi	dī bīra
Third	ទីបី	[tiː ɓəj]	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.^[21]

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[5]	Notes
1	១	mvay
2	២	vyar
3	៣	pi
4	៤	pvan
5	៥	pram	(7 : pramvyar or pramvyal)
10	១០	tap	Old Chinese *di̯əp.[12]
20	២០	bhai
40	៤០	plon
80	៨០	bhai pvan	Literally "four twenty"
100	១០០	çata	Sanskrit (100, sata).
400	៤០០	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.^[22]

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.^[22]

Value	Khmer	Reconstruction[23][24]	Notes
5	៥	*pram
6	៦	*krɔɔŋ
7	៧	*knuul
8	៨	*ktii	Same root as the word hand, *tii.
9	៩	*ksaar
10	១០	*kraaj	Corresponds to present-day /rɔj/ (one hundred).

Notes

References

General

1. David Smyth (1995). Colloquial Cambodian: A Complete Language Course. Routledge (UK). ISBN 0-415-10006-2.
2. Huffman, Franklin E.; Charan Promchan; Chhom-Rak Thong Lambert (2008). "Huffman, Modern Spoken Cambodian". Archived from the original on 2009-08-04. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
3. Unknown (2005). Khmer Phrase Book: Everyday Phrases Mini-Dictionary.
4. Smyth, David; Tran Kien (1998). Practical Cambodian Dictionary (2 ed.). Tuttle Language Library/Charles E. Tuttle Company. ISBN 0-8048-1954-8.
5. Southeast Asia. Lonely Planet. 2006. ISBN 1-74104-632-7.
6. preahvihear (2008). "The original names for the Khmer tens: 30–90". Archived from the original on 2009-08-04. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
7. "SEAlang Library Khmer Lexicography". Retrieved 2008-12-07.
8. "Veda:Sanskrit Numbers". Retrieved 2008-12-10.

Specific

1. Eugene Smith, David; Louis Charles Karpinski (2004). The Hindu–Arabic Numerals. Courier Dover Publications. p. 39. ISBN 0-486-43913-5.
2. Kumar Sharan, Mahesh (2003). Studies In Sanskrit Inscriptions Of Ancient Cambodia. Abhinav Publications. p. 293. ISBN 81-7017-006-0.
3. Diller, Anthony (1996). "New Zeros and Old Khmer" (PDF). Australian National University. pp. 1–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
4. Diller, Anthony (1996). New zeroes and Old Khmer (PDF). Australian National University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-20.
5. Jacob, Judith M.; Smyth, David (1993). Cambodian Linguistics, Literature and History (PDF). Rootledge & University of London School of Oriental and African Studies. pp. 28–37. ISBN 0-7286-0218-0.
6. "Khmer/Cambodian alphabet". Omniglot. 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
7. Ehrman, Madeline E.; Kem Sos (1972). Contemporary Cambodian: Grammatical Sketch (PDF). Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 18.
8. Asian Superstitions (PDF). ADB Magazine. June 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-07. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
9. "Khmer superstition". 2008-03-01. Archived from the original on 2009-08-04. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
10. "Info on Cambodia". 2006. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
11. Huffman, Franklin E. (1992). Cambodian System of Writing and Beginning Reader. SEAP Publications. pp. 58–59. ISBN 0-87727-520-3.
12. Gorgoniev, Yu A. (1961). Khmer language. p. 72.
13. "Zuojiang Zhuang /South Zhuang". Retrieved 2021-03-08.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
14. "Nanning Pinghua". Retrieved 2021-03-08.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
15. Jacob (1993). Notes on the numerals and numeral coefficients in Old, Middle, and Modern Khmer (PDF). p. 28.
16. "Khmer Numeral System". 2005-06-19. Archived from the original on 2009-08-03. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
17. "Spoken Khmer Number". 2003. Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
18. Thomas, David D. (1971). Chrau Grammar (Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications). Vol. 7. University of Hawai'i Press. p. 236.
19. "Khmer: Introduction". National Virtual Translation Center. 2007. Archived from the original on 2008-07-31. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
20. "Khmer Cardinal Number". 2003. Archived from the original on 2008-09-06. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
21. Jacob, Judith M. "Mon–Khmer Studies VI: Sanskrit Loanwords in Pre-Angkorian Khmer" (PDF). School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
22. Gvozdanović, Jadranka (1999). Numeral Types and Changes Worldwide. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 263–265. ISBN 3-11-016113-3.
23. Jenner, Phillip N. (1976). "Les noms de nombre en Khmer" [The names of numbers in Khmer]. Linguistics (in French). 14 (174). Mouton Publishers: 48. doi:10.1515/ling.1976.14.174.39. ISSN 1613-396X. S2CID 144078417.
24. Fisiak, Jacek (1997). Linguistic Reconstruction. Walter de Gruyter. p. 275. ISBN 3-11-014905-2.