Khmer Script

• Type: Abugida

  • An abugida is a writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as a unit and vowel notation is secondary

• Direction: Left-to-right

• Age: circa 611 - present

• Approximately 79% of Cambodians are able to read Khmer

Consonants

• 35 consonant characters, although 2 are obsolete (see below)

• Each consonant has an inherent vowel, â or ô

• Each consonant can belong to one of two series, the a-series or o-series

• Each consonant, expect one, also has a subscript form

  • May also be called sub-consonants

    • ជើងអក្សរ in Khmer (cheung âksâr)

  • Most subscript consonants resemble their corresponding consonant symbol, but sometimes there's no obvious resemblance

  • Most subscript consonants are written directly below other consonants, although subscript r is written to the left, and others have ascending elements that appear to the right

Consonant table

Consonant	Subscript form	Full value (with inherent vowel)	Consonant value
ក	្ក	kâ	k
ខ	្ខ	khâ	kh
គ	្គ	kô	k
ឃ	្ឃ	khô	kh
ង	្ង	ng	ng
ច	្ច	châ	ch
ឆ	្ឆ	chhâ	chh
ជ	្ជ	chô	ch
ឈ	្ជ	chhô	chh
ញ	្ញ	nhô	nh
ដ	្ដ	dâ	d
ឋ	្ឋ	thâ	th