Khmer numerals

alt=|thumb|244x244px|The Khmer numerals depicted in four different typographical variants comparing to [[Arabic numerals (blue).]]

Khmer numerals ០ ១ ២ ៣ ៤ ៥ ៦ ៧ ៨ ៩ are the numerals used in the script for the Khmer language. They have been in use since at least the early 7th century.

Numerals

alt=|left|thumb|180x180px|The number 605 in Khmer numerals, from the Sambor inscriptions in 683 AD. The earliest known material use of zero as a decimal figure.

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. Old Khmer, or Angkorian Khmer, also possessed separate symbols for the numbers 10, 20, and 100. 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, their modern forms still bear many resemblances to the latter, demonstrated in the following table:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! Value

! Khmer

! Thai

! Lao

|style="font-size:200%"|

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 () is formed from 5 () plus 1 ().

alt=A chart in Khmer with Khmer numerals and numbers|thumb|Khmer numbers

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.

{| class="wikitable"

! Value

! Khmer

! Word Form

! IPA

! UNGEGN

! GD

! ALA-LC

! Notes

|align=center|0 || || || || || || || From Sanskrit

|align=center|1 || || || || || || || Before a classifier, is reduced to in regular speech.

|align=center|2 || || || , || || || ||

|align=center|3 || || || || || || ||

|align=center|4 || || || || || || ||

|align=center|5 || || || || || || ||

For details of the various alternative romanization systems, see Romanization of Khmer.
Some authors may alternatively mark as the pronunciation for the word two, and either or for the word three.
In neighbouring Thailand the number three is thought to bring good luck. 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.

Comparison to other Austroasiatic languages 1-5

Whilst Vietnamese vocabulary is very Sinicized, the numbers 1-5 retain proto-Austroasiatic origins.

{| class="wikitable"

!Value

!Khmer

!Word Form

!IPA

!UNGEGN

! rowspan="6" |

!Vietnamese

!Muong language

!Mon language

!Bru language

!Khmu language

|muŏy

|một

|mốch

|mo̤a

|mui

|/mò:j/

|pir

|hai

|hal

|ɓa

|bar

|/pà:r/

|bei

|ba

|pa

|pɔeʔ

|pei

|/péɂ/

|buŏn

|bốn

|pổn

|pɔn

|pon

|/sí:/

|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 (), 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 preceded by any number from one to nine, so that 15 is constructed as , instead of the standard .

{| class="wikitable"

! Value

! Khmer

! Word Form

! IPA

! UNGEGN

! GD

! ALA-LC

! Notes

|align=center|6 || || || || brămmuŏy || brammuoy || prāṃmuay ||

|align=center|7 || || || , || brămpir || brampir || prāṃbīr ||

|align=center|8 || || || || brămbei || brambei || prāṃpī ||

|align=center|9 || || || || brămbuŏn || brambuon || prāṃpuan ||

|align=center|10 || || || || dáb || dab || ṭáp || From an archaic Chinese form *.

|align=center|11 || || || || dábmuŏy || dabmuoy || ṭápmuay || Colloquially muŏydândáb .

|align=center|20 || || || , , || mphey || mphey || mbhai || Contraction of + (i.e. one + twenty)

In constructions from 6 to 9 that use 5 as a base, may alternatively be pronounced ; giving , , , and . This is especially true in dialects which elide , 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:

{| class="wikitable"

! Value

! Khmer

! Word Form

! IPA

! UNGEGN

! GD

! ALA-LC

! Notes

|align=center|30 || || || || samsĕb || samseb || sāmsip || From Thai สามสิบ sam sip

|align=center|40 || || || || sêsĕb || saeseb || saesip || From Thai, si sip

|align=center|50 || || || || hasĕb || haseb || hāsip || From Thai, hasip

|align=center|60 || || || || hŏksĕb || hokseb || huksip || From Thai, hoksip

|align=center|70 || || || || chĕtsĕb || chetseb || citsip || From Thai, chetsip

|align=center|80 || || || || pêtsĕb || paetseb || p″aetsip || From Thai, paetsip

|align=center|90 || || || || kausĕb || kauseb || kausip || From Thai, kaosip

The word , which appears in each of these numbers, can be dropped in informal or colloquial speech. For example, the number 81 can be expressed as instead of the full .

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.

! Nanning

! Cantonese

! Teochew

! Hokkien

! Mandarin

|align=center|3 ‒ || || sam || sǎam || sãam || ɬaːm1 || ɬam41 || saam1 || sã1 || sa1 (sam1) || sān

|align=center|4 ‒ || || si || sài || sii || ɬi5 || ɬi55 || sei3 || si3 || si3 (su3) || sì

|align=center|5 ‒ || || ha || ngùa || hàa || ha3 || ŋ̩13 || ng5 || ŋou6 || go2 (ngo2) || wǔ

|align=center|6 ‒ || || hok || lòk || hók || huk7 || løk24 || luk6 || lak8 || lak2 (liok8) || liù

|align=center|7 ‒ || || chet || jèd || jét || tɕit7 || tsʰɐt33 || cat1 || tsʰik4 || chit2 || qī

|align=center|8 ‒ || || paet || pàed || pàet || pet7 || pat33 || baat3 || poiʔ4 || pueh4 (pat4) || bā

|align=center|9 ‒ || || kao || jao || kâo || kau3 || kou33 || gau2 || kao2 || kau4 (kiu2) || jiǔ

|align=center|10 ‒ || || 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:

{| class="wikitable"

! Value

! Khmer

! Word Form

! IPA

! UNGEGN

! GD

! ALA-LC

! Notes

|align=center|100 || || || (, ) || muŏy rôy || muoy roy || muay raya || From Thai, roi.

|align=center|1,000 || || || || muŏy poăn || muoy poan || muaya bân || From Thai, phan.

|align=center|10,000 || || || || muŏy mœn || muoy mueun || muaya mȳna || From Thai, muen.

|align=center|100,000 || || || || muŏy sên || muoy saen || muaya saena || From Thai, saen.

|align=center|1,000,000 || || || || muŏy léan || muoy lean || muaya lâna || From Thai, lan.

|align=center|10,000,000 || || || || muŏy kaôdĕ || muoy kaot || muaya koṭi || From Sanskrit and Pali koṭi.

Although 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 ). In order to avoid confusion, sometimes is used to mean ten million, along with for one hundred million, and ("one thousand million") to mean one billion.

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:

{| class="wikitable"

! Value

! Khmer

! Word Form

! IPA

! UNGEGN

! GD

! ALA-LC

! Notes

|align=center|10,000 || || || || dáb poăn || dab poan || ṭáp bân || lit. "ten thousand"

|align=center|100,000 || || || || dáb mœŭn || dab mueun || ṭáp mȳna || lit. "ten ten-thousand"

|align=center|100,000 || || || || muŏy rôy poăn || muoy roy poan || muaya raya bân || lit. "one hundred thousand"

|align=center|1,000,000 || || || || muŏy rôy mœn || muoy roy mueun || muaya raya mȳna || lit. "one hundred ten-thousand"

|align=center|10,000,000 || || || || dáb léan || dab lean || ṭáp lāna || lit. "ten million"

|align=center|100,000,000 || || || || muŏy rôy léan || muoy roy lean || muaya raya lāna || lit. "one hundred million"

|align=center|1,000,000,000 || || || || 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.

{| class="wikitable"

! Value

! Khmer

! Word form

! IPA

! UNGEGN

! GD

! ALA-LC

! Notes

|align=center|4 || || , || || dâmbâ, dâmbâr || damba || ṭaṃpa ||

|align=center|40 || || || || phlon || phloun || phlūna || From (pre-)Angkorian *plon "40"

|align=center|80 || || || , || pir phlon || pi phloun || bīra phlūna || Lit. "two forty"

|align=center|400 || || || || 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, aside from 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.

{| class="wikitable"

! Value

! Khmer

! Word form

! IPA

! UNGEGN

! GD

! ALA-LC

! Notes

|align=center|10 || || || || tôs || tos || dasa || From Sanskrit and Pali, dasa

|align=center|12 || || || , || tvéatôs || tveatos, tveateaksak || dvādasa || From Sanskrit and Pali dvādasa

|align=center|13 or 30 || or || || || treitôs || treitos || trīdasa || From Sanskrit and Pali, trayodasa

|align=center|28 || || || || âsdapisâ || asdapisa || ‛astābīsa || From Sanskrit (8, aṣṭá-) (20, vimsati)

|align=center|100 || || || || sâtâ || saktak || sata || From Sanskrit, sata

Ordinal numbers

Khmer ordinal numbers are formed by placing the word in front of a cardinal number.

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.

{| class="wikitable"

! Value

! Khmer

! Orthography

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.

! Notes

|align=center|5 || || *pram ||

|align=center|6 || || * ||

|align=center|7 || || *knuul ||

|align=center|8 || || *ktii || Same root as the word hand, *tii.

|align=center|9 || || *ksaar ||

|align=center|10 || || *kraaj || Corresponds to present-day (one hundred).

Notes

References

;General

;Specific