Cambodian Alphabet Translated English

Tap a Khmer letter to copy it: under each is its name in English letters, such as kâ.

កkâU+1780Ready to copy

93 letters. Tap one to copy it.

Consonants 33

Independent vowels 14

Vowel signs on អ 16

Diacritics on ក 12

Digits 10

Symbols 8

How it works

The Cambodian alphabet with the Latin spelling under each letter: the 33 consonants in dictionary order, the independent vowels, the vowel signs and diacritics shown on a letter, the Khmer digits and the punctuation symbols.

Read the full guide

Cambodian alphabet letters: English translation

A letter has no meaning to translate. What English can give is its name and sound in Latin letters, and the names here follow the UNGEGN spelling: ក is kâ, គ is kô. A consonant is named by its sound with its inherent vowel, â or ô.

Two series, two readings

Every consonant belongs to the a-series or the o-series, after that vowel. Most vowel signs are read one way after an a-series consonant and another way after an o-series one: ា is a after ក and éa after គ. Khmer runs left to right, with no spaces inside a phrase.

  • ឡ lâ is the one consonant with no subscript form. The others each have a small form written under a letter in a cluster.
  • The riel, the money of Cambodia, is written ៛ or with the letter រ rô alone.
  • ៗ repeats the word or phrase before it, and ។ is the period.

Questions and answers

How many letters are in the Cambodian alphabet?

33 consonants in modern Khmer, out of 35: two are obsolete. This chart adds 14 independent vowels, 16 vowel signs and 12 diacritics, so the total depends on what is counted.

Is Khmer the same as Cambodian?

Yes. Khmer is the official language of Cambodia, so the Cambodian alphabet is the Khmer script. The same letters are used to write Pali.

What are the Khmer symbols ។ and ៚?

Punctuation. ។ is the period, ៕ ends a whole text or a chapter, ៚ ends a poetic or religious text and ៙ begins one. ៖ works like a colon.

All 93 letters

Consonants 33

  • 'â U+17A2 Khmer letter qa. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 33 of 33, a-series. Its name is 'â (IPA ʔɑː); as a consonant it is ' (IPA ʔ).
  • bâ U+1794 Khmer letter ba. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 21 of 33, a-series. Its name is bâ (IPA ɓɑː); as a consonant it is b, p (IPA ɓ, p).
  • châ U+1785 Khmer letter ca. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 6 of 33, a-series. Its name is châ (IPA cɑː); as a consonant it is ch (IPA c).
  • chhâ U+1786 Khmer letter cha. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 7 of 33, a-series. Its name is chhâ (IPA cʰɑː); as a consonant it is chh (IPA cʰ).
  • chhô U+1788 Khmer letter cho. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 9 of 33, o-series. Its name is chhô (IPA cʰɔː); as a consonant it is chh (IPA cʰ).
  • chô U+1787 Khmer letter co. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 8 of 33, o-series. Its name is chô (IPA cɔː); as a consonant it is ch (IPA c).
  • dâ U+178A Khmer letter da. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 11 of 33, a-series. Its name is dâ (IPA ɗɑː); as a consonant it is d (IPA ɗ).
Show all 93 letters (86 more)

Consonants, continued

  • dô U+178C Khmer letter do. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 13 of 33, o-series. Its name is dô (IPA ɗɔː); as a consonant it is d (IPA ɗ).
  • hâ U+17A0 Khmer letter ha. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 31 of 33, a-series. Its name is hâ (IPA hɑː); as a consonant it is h (IPA h).
  • kâ U+1780 Khmer letter ka. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 1 of 33, a-series. Its name is kâ (IPA kɑː); as a consonant it is k (IPA k).
  • khâ U+1781 Khmer letter kha. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 2 of 33, a-series. Its name is khâ (IPA kʰɑː); as a consonant it is kh (IPA kʰ).
  • khô U+1783 Khmer letter kho. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 4 of 33, o-series. Its name is khô (IPA kʰɔː); as a consonant it is kh (IPA kʰ).
  • kô U+1782 Khmer letter ko. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 3 of 33, o-series. Its name is kô (IPA kɔː); as a consonant it is k (IPA k).
  • lâ U+17A1 Khmer letter la. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 32 of 33, a-series. Its name is lâ (IPA lɑː); as a consonant it is l (IPA l). The one consonant with no subscript form.
  • lô U+179B Khmer letter lo. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 28 of 33, o-series. Its name is lô (IPA lɔː); as a consonant it is l (IPA l).
  • mô U+1798 Khmer letter mo. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 25 of 33, o-series. Its name is mô (IPA mɔː); as a consonant it is m (IPA m).
  • nâ U+178E Khmer letter nno. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 15 of 33, a-series. Its name is nâ (IPA nɑː); as a consonant it is n (IPA n).
  • ngô U+1784 Khmer letter ngo. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 5 of 33, o-series. Its name is ngô (IPA ŋɔː); as a consonant it is ng (IPA ŋ).
  • nhô U+1789 Khmer letter nyo. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 10 of 33, o-series. Its name is nhô (IPA ɲɔː); as a consonant it is nh (IPA ɲ).
  • nô U+1793 Khmer letter no. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 20 of 33, o-series. Its name is nô (IPA nɔː); as a consonant it is n (IPA n).
  • phâ U+1795 Khmer letter pha. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 22 of 33, a-series. Its name is phâ (IPA pʰɑː); as a consonant it is ph (IPA pʰ).
  • phô U+1797 Khmer letter pho. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 24 of 33, o-series. Its name is phô (IPA pʰɔː); as a consonant it is ph (IPA pʰ).
  • pô U+1796 Khmer letter po. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 23 of 33, o-series. Its name is pô (IPA pɔː); as a consonant it is p (IPA p).
  • rô U+179A Khmer letter ro. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 27 of 33, o-series. Its name is rô (IPA rɔː); as a consonant it is r (IPA r).
  • sâ U+179F Khmer letter sa. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 30 of 33, a-series. Its name is sâ (IPA sɑː); as a consonant it is s (IPA s).
  • tâ U+178F Khmer letter ta. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 16 of 33, a-series. Its name is tâ (IPA tɑː); as a consonant it is t (IPA t).
  • thâ (tha) U+1790 Khmer letter tha. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 17 of 33, a-series. Its name is thâ (IPA tʰɑː); as a consonant it is th (IPA tʰ). The spelling in brackets is the ALA-LC one, which keeps the two letters apart.
  • thâ (ṭha) U+178B Khmer letter ttha. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 12 of 33, a-series. Its name is thâ (IPA tʰɑː); as a consonant it is th (IPA tʰ). The spelling in brackets is the ALA-LC one, which keeps the two letters apart.
  • thô (dha) U+1792 Khmer letter tho. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 19 of 33, o-series. Its name is thô (IPA tʰɔː); as a consonant it is th (IPA tʰ). The spelling in brackets is the ALA-LC one, which keeps the two letters apart.
  • thô (ḍha) U+178D Khmer letter ttho. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 14 of 33, o-series. Its name is thô (IPA tʰɔː); as a consonant it is th (IPA tʰ). The spelling in brackets is the ALA-LC one, which keeps the two letters apart.
  • tô U+1791 Khmer letter to. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 18 of 33, o-series. Its name is tô (IPA tɔː); as a consonant it is t (IPA t).
  • vô U+179C Khmer letter vo. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 29 of 33, o-series. Its name is vô (IPA ʋɔː); as a consonant it is v (IPA ʋ).
  • yô U+1799 Khmer letter yo. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Consonant 26 of 33, o-series. Its name is yô (IPA jɔː); as a consonant it is y (IPA j).

Independent vowels 14

  • Vowel ai U+17B0 Khmer independent vowel qai. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA ʔaj. Romanized ai in both the UNGEGN and the GD system.
  • Vowel aô U+17B1 Khmer independent vowel qoo type one. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA ʔao. Romanized aô (UNGEGN) or ao (GD). The usual form; ឲ is a second form of it.
  • Vowel aô, variant U+17B2 Khmer independent vowel qoo type two. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA ʔao. Romanized aô (UNGEGN) or ao (GD). A second form of ឱ, used in only two words.
  • Vowel au U+17B3 Khmer independent vowel qau. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA ʔaw. Romanized au in both the UNGEGN and the GD system.
  • Vowel âu U+17AA Khmer independent vowel quuv. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA ʔəw. Romanized âu (UNGEGN) or au (GD).
  • Vowel ê U+17AF Khmer independent vowel qe. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA ʔae, ʔɛː, ʔeː. Romanized ê (UNGEGN) or ae (GD).
  • Vowel ĕ U+17A5 Khmer independent vowel qi. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA ʔə, ʔɨ, ʔəj. Romanized ĕ (UNGEGN) or e (GD).
  • Vowel ei U+17A6 Khmer independent vowel qii. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA ʔəj. Romanized ei in both the UNGEGN and the GD system.
  • Vowel lœ U+17AE Khmer independent vowel lyy. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA lɨː. Romanized lœ (UNGEGN) or lueu (GD).
  • Vowel lœ̆ U+17AD Khmer independent vowel ly. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA lɨ. Romanized lœ̆ (UNGEGN) or lue (GD).
  • Vowel ŏ, ŭ U+17A7 Khmer independent vowel qu. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA ʔo, ʔu, ʔao. Romanized ŏ, ŭ (UNGEGN) or o (GD).
  • Vowel ou U+17A9 Khmer independent vowel quu. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA ʔou, ʔuː. Romanized ou in the GD system; the UNGEGN system gives it no spelling.
  • Vowel rœ U+17AC Khmer independent vowel ryy. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA rɨː. Romanized rœ (UNGEGN) or rueu (GD).
  • Vowel rœ̆ U+17AB Khmer independent vowel ry. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Sound IPA rɨ. Romanized rœ̆ (UNGEGN) or rue (GD).

Vowel signs on អ 16

  • œ U+17A2 U+17BA The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign yy. Romanized œ after either series; the sound is IPA əː after an a-series consonant and IPA ɨː after an o-series one.
  • œ̆ U+17A2 U+17B9 The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign y. Romanized œ̆ after either series; the sound is IPA ə after an a-series consonant and IPA ɨ after an o-series one.
  • œă U+17A2 U+17BF The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign ya. It reads œă (IPA ɨə) after a consonant of either series.
  • a, éa U+17A2 U+17B6 The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign aa. After an a-series consonant such as អ it reads a (IPA aː), after an o-series one éa (IPA iːə).
  • aeu, eu U+17A2 U+17BE The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign oe. After an a-series consonant such as អ it reads aeu (IPA aə), after an o-series one eu (IPA əː).
  • ai, ey U+17A2 U+17C3 The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign ai. After an a-series consonant such as អ it reads ai, after an o-series one ey.
  • aô, oŭ U+17A2 U+17C4 The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign oo. After an a-series consonant such as អ it reads aô (IPA ao), after an o-series one oŭ (IPA oː).
  • au, ŏu U+17A2 U+17C5 The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign au. After an a-series consonant such as អ it reads au, after an o-series one ŏu.
  • é U+17A2 U+17C1 The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign e. It reads é (IPA eː) after a consonant of either series.
  • ê U+17A2 U+17C2 The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign ae. Romanized ê after either series; the sound is IPA ae after an a-series consonant and IPA ɛː after an o-series one.
  • ĕ, ĭ U+17A2 U+17B7 The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign i. After an a-series consonant such as អ it reads ĕ (IPA ə, e), after an o-series one ĭ (IPA ɨ, i).
  • ei, i U+17A2 U+17B8 The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign ii. After an a-series consonant such as អ it reads ei (IPA ej), after an o-series one i (IPA iː).
  • iĕ U+17A2 U+17C0 The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign ie. It reads iĕ (IPA iə) after a consonant of either series.
  • o, u U+17A2 U+17BC The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign uu. After an a-series consonant such as អ it reads o (IPA oː), after an o-series one u (IPA uː).
  • ŏ, ŭ U+17A2 U+17BB The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign u. After an a-series consonant such as អ it reads ŏ (IPA o), after an o-series one ŭ (IPA u).
  • uŏ U+17A2 U+17BD The letter អ with the Khmer vowel sign ua. It reads uŏ (IPA uə) after a consonant of either series.

Diacritics on ក 12

  • âsda U+1780 U+17CF The letter ក with the Khmer sign ahsda. Named number eight: in a few words it shows that a consonant with no vowel sign is said with its inherent vowel.
  • bânták U+1780 U+17CB The letter ក with the Khmer sign bantoc. A small line over the last consonant of a syllable: it shortens certain vowels.
  • kakâbat U+1780 U+17CE The letter ក with the Khmer sign kakabat. Also called a crow's foot: it marks the rising intonation of an exclamation.
  • musĕkâtônd U+1780 U+17C9 The letter ក with the Khmer sign muusikatoan. Two short lines over a consonant, named mouse teeth: they turn some o-series consonants into a-series ones, and ប bâ into a p.
  • nĭkkôhĕt U+1780 U+17C6 The letter ក with the Khmer sign nikahit. A small circle over the consonant: it nasalizes the vowel and adds m.
  • reăhmŭkh U+1780 U+17C7 The letter ក with the Khmer sign reahmuk. Two small circles after the consonant, named shining face: they add a final h.
  • rôbat U+1780 U+17CC The letter ក with the Khmer sign robat. Found in loanwords from Sanskrit. In most cases neither the mark nor the consonant under it is pronounced.
  • sâmyoŭk sânhnhéa U+1780 U+17D0 The letter ក with the Khmer sign samyok sannya. In some loanwords from Sanskrit and Pali: over a consonant, it marks a particular short vowel.
  • tôndôkhéad U+1780 U+17CD The letter ក with the Khmer sign toandakhiat. Over a final consonant: the consonant is not pronounced.
  • treisăpt U+1780 U+17CA The letter ក with the Khmer sign triisap. A wavy line over a consonant: it turns some a-series consonants into o-series ones.
  • vĭréam U+1780 U+17D1 The letter ក with the Khmer sign viriam. Mostly obsolete: it suppresses a consonant's inherent vowel.
  • yŭkoălpĭntŭ U+1780 U+17C8 The letter ក with the Khmer sign yuukaleapintu. A pair of dots after a consonant: a short vowel and a glottal stop follow.

Digits 10

  • Khmer 0 U+17E0 Khmer digit zero. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0.
  • Khmer 1 U+17E1 Khmer digit one. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0.
  • Khmer 2 U+17E2 Khmer digit two. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0.
  • Khmer 3 U+17E3 Khmer digit three. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0.
  • Khmer 4 U+17E4 Khmer digit four. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0.
  • Khmer 5 U+17E5 Khmer digit five. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0.
  • Khmer 6 U+17E6 Khmer digit six. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0.
  • Khmer 7 U+17E7 Khmer digit seven. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0.
  • Khmer 8 U+17E8 Khmer digit eight. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0.
  • Khmer 9 U+17E9 Khmer digit nine. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0.

Symbols 8

  • bârĭyoŭsan U+17D5 Khmer sign bariyoosan. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. A period that ends a whole text or a chapter.
  • châmnŏch pir kus U+17D6 Khmer sign camnuc pii kuuh. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Two dots, a line, used like a colon.
  • khând U+17D4 Khmer sign khan. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Used as a period.
  • koŭmutr U+17DA Khmer sign koomuut. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. A period at the end of a poetic or religious text.
  • lăk U+17D8 Khmer sign beyyal. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Stands for etc.
  • lékh toŭ U+17D7 Khmer sign lek too. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Named figure two: the word or phrase before it is said twice.
  • phnêk moăn U+17D9 Khmer sign phnaek muan. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. Named rooster's eye: it stands at the start of a poetic or religious text.
  • Riel sign U+17DB Khmer currency symbol riel. Khmer block, Unicode 3.0. The sign of the riel, the money of Cambodia.

How this list was compiled: Every character was checked against UnicodeData.txt, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/UnicodeData.txt): the code points and the character names in the notes come from that file, names in sentence case. Block names come from Blocks.txt (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/Blocks.txt) and the Unicode version each character arrived in from DerivedAge.txt (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/DerivedAge.txt), both version 18.0.0. Other names of a character come from NamesList.txt, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/NamesList.txt). The 33 consonants and their order follow the consonant table of Wikipedia's Khmer script article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_script), which is also the order of the code points, and they are the consonants of the index list of CLDR's Khmer locale (https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr/blob/main/common/main/km.xml), in the same order. The names and the Latin spellings are the article's UNGEGN column; where two letters share a spelling the ALA-LC spelling is added in brackets, and the search words hold the GD spelling. The sounds in the International Phonetic Alphabet, the two series, the readings of each vowel sign, the names of the diacritics and of the punctuation signs and what each is for follow the same article, restated in this site's own words. Every independent vowel and vowel sign here is among the exemplar characters of the CLDR locale. Each vowel sign is shown on អ, the letter the article shows them on, and each diacritic on ក, the first consonant; some of those pairs are not the spelling of a word. Left out: the two obsolete consonants and the obsolete vowel letter, the consonants written with a subscript, the subscript sign itself, the two code points Unicode discourages, the under-line mark that looks the same as the vowel sign ŏ, and the lunar date signs of the Khmer Symbols block. The tile names and the grouping are this site's own. Each tile was drawn on 2026-10-09 before it was kept, and all of them drew. All sources were read on 2026-10-09. Licence: own work