Khmer numerals


Khmer numerals are the numerals used in the Khmer language. They have been in use since at least the early 7th century, with the earliest known use being on a stele dated to AD 604 found in Prasat Bayang, Cambodia, near Angkor Borei.

Numerals

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. However, Old Khmer, or [|Angkorian Khmer], also possessed separate symbols for the numbers 10, 20, and 100. 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. 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:
ValueKhmerThaiLao
0០๐໐
1១๑໑
2២๒໒
3៣๓໓
4៤๔໔
5៥๕໕
6៦๖໖
7៧๗໗
8៨๘໘
9៩๙໙

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.

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-Mon–Khmer origin.
ValueKhmerWord FormIPAUNGEGNALA-LCOtherNotes
0០សូន្យsūnysounFrom Sanskrit śūnya
1១មួយmuŏymuaymouyBefore a classifier, /muəj/ is reduced to /mə/ in regular speech.
2២ពីរ pirbīrpiiAlso
3៣បីbeipībei
4៤បួនbuŏnpuanbuon
5៥ប្រាំprămprâṃpram

As mentioned above, 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 ដណ្ដប់ preceded by any number from one to nine, so that 15 is constructed as ប្រាំដណ្ដប់, instead of the standard ដប់ប្រាំ.
ValueKhmerWord FormIPAUNGEGNALA-LCOtherNotes
6៦ប្រាំមួយprăm muŏyprâṃ muaypram muoy
7៧ប្រាំពីរ prăm pirprâṃ bīrpram pii
8៨ប្រាំបីprăm beyprâṃ pīpram bei
9៩ប្រាំបួនprăm buŏnprâṃ puanpram buon
10១០ដប់dábṭápdapOld Chinese *.
11១១ដប់មួយdáb muŏyṭáp muaydap muoyColloquially មួយដណ្ដប់.
20២០ម្ភៃ mpheymbhaimpeiContraction of +

The numbers from thirty to ninety in Khmer bear many resemblances to both the modern Thai and Cantonese numbers. It is likely that Khmer has borrowed them from the Thai language, as the numbers are both non-productive in Khmer and bear a near one-to-one phonological correspondence as can be observed in the language comparisons table below.
Informally, a speaker may choose to omit the final and the number is still understood. For example, it is possible to say instead of the full .
ValueKhmerWord FormIPAUNGEGNALA-LCOtherNotes
30៣០សាមសិបsam sĕbsām sipsam sepFrom Thai
40៤០សែសិបsê sĕbsae sipsae sepFrom Thai
50៥០ហាសិបha sĕbhā sipha sepFrom Thai
60៦០ហុកសិបhŏk sĕbhuk siphok sepFrom Thai
70៧០ចិតសិបchĕt sĕbcit sipchet sepFrom Thai
80៨០ប៉ែតសិបpêt sĕbp″ait sippaet sepFrom Thai
90៩០កៅសិបkau sĕbkau sipkao sepFrom Thai

Language Comparisons:
ValueKhmerThaiArchaic ThaiLaoCantoneseTeochewHokkienMandarin
3 ‒samsǎamsãamsaam1sã1sa1 sān
4 ‒sisàisiisei3si3si3 sì
5 ‒hangùahàang5ŋou6go2 wǔ
6 ‒hoklòkhókluk6lak8lak2 liù
7 ‒chetjèdjétcat1tsʰik4chit2qī
8 ‒paetpàedpàetbaat3poiʔ4pueh4 bā
9 ‒kaojaokâogau2kao2kau4 jiǔ
10 ‒sipjǒngsípsap6tsap8tzhap2 shí

The standard Khmer numbers starting from one hundred are as follows:
ValueKhmerWord FormIPAUNGEGNALA-LCOtherNotes
100១០០មួយរយ muŏy rôymuay raymuoy royBorrowed from Thai ร้อย roi.
1 000១០០០មួយពាន់muŏy poănmuay bânmuoy poanFrom Thai พัน phan.
10 000១០០០០មួយម៉ឺនmuŏy mœŭnmuay muȳnmuoy muenFrom Thai หมื่น muen.
100 000១០០០០០មួយសែនmuŏy sênmuay s″ainmuoy saenFrom Thai แสน saen.
1 000 000១០០០០០០មួយលានmuŏy leănmuay lânmuoy leanFrom Thai ล้าน lan.
10 000 000១០០០០០០០មួយកោដិmuŏy kaôdĕmuay koṭimuoy kaotFrom Sanskrit and Pali koṭi.

Although មួយកោដិ is most commonly used to mean ten million, in some areas this is also colloquially used to refer to one billion. In order to avoid confusion, sometimes ដប់លាន is used to mean ten million, along with មួយរយលាន for one hundred million, and មួយពាន់លាន 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:
ValueKhmerWord FormIPAUNGEGNALA-LCNotes
10 000១០០០០ដប់ពាន់dáb poănṭáp bânLiterally "ten thousand"
100 000១០០០០០ដប់ម៉ឺនdáb mœŭnṭáp muȳnLiterally "ten ten-thousand"
100 000១០០០០០មួយរយពាន់muŏy rôy poănmuay ray bânLiterally "one hundred thousand"
1 000 000១០០០០០០មួយរយម៉ឺនmuŏy rôy mœŭnmuay ray muȳnLiterally "one hundred ten-thousand"
10 000 000១០០០០០០០ដប់លានdáb leănṭáp lânLiterally "ten million"
100 000 000១០០០០០០០០មួយរយលានmuŏy rôy leănmuay ray lânLiterally "one hundred million"
1 000 000 000១០០០០០០០០០មួយពាន់លានmuŏy poăn leănmuay ray bânLiterally "one thousand million"

Counting fruits

Reminiscent of the standard 20-base 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.
ValueKhmerWord formIPAUNGEGNALA-LCNotes
4៤ដំបdâmbâṭaṃpaAlso written ដំបរ
40៤០ផ្លូនphlonphlūnFrom Angkorian *plon "40"
80៨០ពីរផ្លូនpir phlonbir phlūnLiterally "two forty"
400៤០០ស្លឹកslœ̆kslẏkFrom 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.
ValueKhmerWord formIPAUNGEGNALA-LCNotes
10១០ទសtôsdasSanskrit, Pali dasa
12១២ទ្វាទស
tvéatôsdvādasSanskrit, Pali dvādasa
13 or 30១៣ or ៣០ត្រីទសtrei tôstrǐ dasSanskrit, Pali trayodasa
28២៨អស្តាពីស’asta pi sâqastā bǐ saSanskrit
100១០០សតsâtâsataSanskrit sata

Ordinal numbers

Khmer ordinal numbers are formed by placing the word ទី in front of a cardinal number. This is similar to the use of ที่ thi in Thai, and thứ in Vietnamese.
MeaningKhmerIPAUNGEGNALA-LCOtherNotes
Firstទីមួយti muŏydī muayti muoy
Secondទីពីរti pirdī bīrti pii
Thirdទីបីti beidī pīti bei

Angkorian numbers

It is generally assumed that the Angkorian and pre-Angkorian numbers also represented a dual base 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.
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.
ValueKhmerOrthographyNotes
1១mvay
2២vyar
3៣pi
4៤pvan
5៥pram
10១០tapOld Chinese *.
20២០bhai
40៤០plon
80៨០bhai pvanLiterally "four twenty"
100១០០çataSanskrit.
400៤០០slik

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 languages such as Pearic, Proto-Viet–Muong, Katuic, and Bahnaric; it is possible to establish the following reconstructions for Proto-Khmer.

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 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.
ValueKhmerReconstructionNotes
5៥*pram
6៦*
7៧*knuul
8៨*ktiiSame root as the word hand, *tii.
9៩*ksaar
10១០*kraajCorresponds to present-day .