Skip to content
Language Lineage

Khmeric

Khmer, the national language of Cambodia, with inscriptions from 611 CE, the longest written record of any Austroasiatic language.

c. 1st millennium BCE – presentCambodia, and Khmer-speaking areas of northeast Thailand and southern Vietnam
On this page
  1. Old Khmer and Angkor
  2. Two Registers
  3. Modern Khmer
  4. In its own words
  5. Where it's spoken
  6. Turning points

01

Old Khmer and Angkor

Khmer is written in inscriptions from the 7th century. The earliest dated one, from Angkor Borei, is from 611 CE. Its script developed from southern Indian writing, and the early inscriptions often pair Sanskrit verses with Khmer prose recording donations to temples, lists of land, rice and slaves. Under the Angkor empire (9th–15th centuries) Khmer was the language of a state that dominated mainland Southeast Asia. The Thai and Lao took over much Khmer vocabulary, especially for royalty, government and religion, as well as the Khmer-derived scripts.

02

Two Registers

Between Old and Modern Khmer, the old voiced consonants lost their voicing and merged with the voiceless ones. The distinction did not vanish: it moved into the vowels, which developed two 'registers'. Syllables that once began with a voiced consonant have a breathier, lower quality and different vowels. The Khmer script still writes the old consonant distinction, and readers use it to choose the vowel. Several neighbouring Austroasiatic languages, Mon among them, went through similar changes.

03

Modern Khmer

Under the French protectorate (1863–1953), the Buddhist monk and scholar Chuon Nath compiled the first great dictionary of Khmer (published from 1938) and coined Khmer and Pali-based words for modern concepts. This laid the foundation of the standard language. Under the Khmer Rouge (1975–1979) teachers, monks and writers were killed in large numbers, and much of the country's literature and many of its books were destroyed.

A sample

In its own words

Khmer

ខ្ញុំស្រឡាញ់អ្នក
khnhom
I
srolanh
love
neak
you
‘I love you’
Sources (1)
  • Headley, Robert K. et al. 1977. Cambodian-English Dictionary. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press.

On the map

Where it’s spoken

Spoken todayShading marks whole countries, not the regions within them.
  1. Cambodiac. 15 million
  2. Thailandc. 1.4 million
  3. Vietnamc. 1.3 million

Figures are rough first-language estimates, rounded, from censuses and Ethnologue. Counts for small or scattered communities are especially uncertain.

Rings along the limb

Turning points

Oldest first.

  1. Writing611 CE

    The first dated Khmer inscription

    An inscription from Angkor Borei is the earliest dated text in Khmer, written in a script of southern Indian origin, alongside Sanskrit. Hundreds of Old Khmer inscriptions follow.

    Sources (1)
    • Jenny, Mathias & Paul Sidwell, eds. 2015. The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
  2. Contact9th – 15th century CE

    Angkor and its neighbours

    Sanskrit and Pali vocabulary flows into Khmer, and Khmer in turn gives Thai and Lao much of their royal, administrative and religious vocabulary, along with their scripts.

    Sources (1)
    • Jenny, Mathias & Paul Sidwell, eds. 2015. The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
  3. Sound lawMiddle Khmer period (c. 14th – 18th century)

    Voicing becomes register

    *b *d *ɡ → p t k, with the old voicing kept as a breathy second register on the vowel

    Voiced stops merge with voiceless ones, and the lost contrast survives as two vowel registers, with the old voiced series giving a breathier, lower-register vowel. Khmer spelling still reflects the old consonants.

    Compare with other mergers across families →

    Sources (1)
    • Jenny, Mathias & Paul Sidwell, eds. 2015. The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
  4. Revitalization1938 onward

    Chuon Nath's dictionary

    Chuon Nath's Khmer dictionary and his new Khmer and Pali-based coinages give Cambodia a modern standard language that is less dependent on French.

    Figures · Chuon Nath (1883–1969)

    Sources (1)
    • Jenny, Mathias & Paul Sidwell, eds. 2015. The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.