Khmer numerals

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

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#Zero as a [decimal digit|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.
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:

Value	Khmer	Thai	Lao
0	០	๐	໐
1	១	๑	໑
2	២	๒	໒
3	៣	๓	໓
4	៤	๔	໔
5	៥	๕	໕
6	៦	๖	໖
7	៧	๗	໗
8	៨	๘	໘
9	៩	๙	໙

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-Austroasiatic origin.

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
0	០	សូន្យ					From Sanskrit
1	១	មួយ					Before a classifier, is reduced to in regular speech.
2	២	ពីរ	,
3	៣	បី
4	៤	បួន
5	៥	ប្រាំ

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.

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN	Vietnamese	Muong language	Mon language	Bru language	Khmu language
1	១	មួយ		muŏy	một	mốch	mo̤a	mui	/mò:j/
2	២	ពីរ	,	pir	hai	hal	ɓa	bar	/pà:r/
3	៣	បី		bei	ba	pa	pɔeʔ	pei	/péɂ/
4	៤	បួន		buŏn	bốn	pổn	pɔn	pon	/sí:/
5	៥	ប្រាំ		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 ដណ្ដប់ preceded by any number from one to nine, so that 15 is constructed as ប្រាំដណ្ដប់, instead of the standard ដប់ប្រាំ.

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
6	៦	ប្រាំមួយ		brămmuŏy	brammuoy	prāṃmuay
7	៧	ប្រាំពីរ	,	brămpir	brampir	prāṃbīr
8	៨	ប្រាំបី		brămbei	brambei	prāṃpī
9	៩	ប្រាំបួន		brămbuŏn	brambuon	prāṃpuan
10	១០	ដប់		dáb	dab	ṭáp	From an archaic Chinese form *.
11	១១	ដប់មួយ		dábmuŏy	dabmuoy	ṭápmuay	Colloquially មួយដណ្ដប់ muŏydândáb.
20	២០	ម្ភៃ	,,	mphey	mphey	mbhai	Contraction of +

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:

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
30	៣០	សាមសិប		samsĕb	samseb	sāmsip	From Thai สามสิบ sam sip
40	៤០	សែសិប		sêsĕb	saeseb	saesip	From Thai, สี่สิบ si sip
50	៥០	ហាសិប		hasĕb	haseb	hāsip	From Thai, ห้าสิบ hasip
60	៦០	ហុកសិប		hŏksĕb	hokseb	huksip	From Thai, หกสิบ hoksip
70	៧០	ចិតសិប		chĕtsĕb	chetseb	citsip	From Thai, เจ็ดสิบ chetsip
80	៨០	ប៉ែតសិប		pêtsĕb	paetseb	p″aetsip	From Thai, แปดสิบ paetsip
90	៩០	កៅសិប		kausĕb	kauseb	kausip	From Thai, เก้าสิบ kaosip

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

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. This is evidenced by the fact that the numbers in Khmer most closely resemble those of Thai, as well as the fact that the numbers cannot be deconstructed in Khmer. For instance, សែ is not used on its own to mean "four" in Khmer and សិប is not used on its own to mean "ten", while they are in Thai. The table below shows how the words in Khmer compare to other nearby Tai and Sinitic languages.

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 + 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:

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
100	១០០	មួយរយ		muŏy rôy	muoy roy	muay raya	From Thai, ร้อย roi.
1,000	១,០០០	មួយពាន់		muŏy poăn	muoy poan	muaya bân	From Thai, พัน phan.
10,000	១០,០០០	មួយម៉ឺន		muŏy mœn	muoy mueun	muaya mȳna	From Thai, หมื่น muen.
100,000	១០០,០០០	មួយសែន		muŏy sên	muoy saen	muaya saena	From Thai, แสน saen.
1,000,000	១,០០០,០០០	មួយលាន		muŏy léan	muoy lean	muaya lâna	From Thai, ล้าน lan.
10,000,000	១០,០០០,០០០	មួយកោដិ		muŏy kaôdĕ	muoy kaot	muaya koṭi	From 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:

Value	Khmer	Word Form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
10,000	១០,០០០	ដប់ពាន់		dáb poăn	dab poan	ṭáp bân	lit. "ten thousand"
100,000	១០០,០០០	ដប់ម៉ឺន		dáb mœŭn	dab mueun	ṭáp mȳna	lit. "ten ten-thousand"
100,000	១០០,០០០	មួយរយពាន់		muŏy rôy poăn	muoy roy poan	muaya raya bân	lit. "one hundred thousand"
1,000,000	១,០០០,០០០	មួយរយម៉ឺន		muŏy rôy mœn	muoy roy mueun	muaya raya mȳna	lit. "one hundred ten-thousand"
10,000,000	១០,០០០,០០០	ដប់លាន		dáb léan	dab lean	ṭáp lāna	lit. "ten million"
100,000,000	១០០,០០០,០០០	មួយរយលាន		muŏy rôy léan	muoy roy lean	muaya raya lāna	lit. "one hundred million"
1,000,000,000	១,០០០,០០០,០០០	មួយពាន់លាន		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.

Value	Khmer	Word form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
4	៤	ដំប, ដំបរ		dâmbâ, dâmbâr	damba	ṭaṃpa
40	៤០	ផ្លូន		phlon	phloun	phlūna	From Angkorian *plon "40"
80	៨០	ពីរផ្លូន	,	pir phlon	pi phloun	bīra phlūna	Lit. "two forty"
400	៤០០	ស្លឹក		slœ̆k	sloek	slẏka	From 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.

Value	Khmer	Word form	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
10	១០	ទស		tôs	tos	dasa	From Sanskrit and Pali, dasa
12	១២	ទ្វាទស	,	tvéatôs	tveatos, tveateaksak	dvādasa	From Sanskrit and Pali dvādasa
13 or 30	១៣ or ៣០	ត្រីទស		treitôs	treitos	trīdasa	From Sanskrit and Pali, trayodasa
28	២៨	អស្តាពីស		âsdapisâ	asdapisa	‛astābīsa	From Sanskrit
100	១០០	សត		sâtâ	saktak	sata	From Sanskrit, 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.

Meaning	Khmer	IPA	UNGEGN	GD	ALA-LC	Notes
First	ទីមួយ		ti muŏy	ti muoy	dī muaya
Second	ទីពីរ	,	ti pir	ti pi	dī bīra
Third	ទីបី		ti bĕi	ti bei	dī pī

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.

Value	Khmer	Orthography	Notes
1	១	mvay
2	២	vyar
3	៣	pi
4	៤	pvan
5	៥	pram
10	១០	tap	From an archaic Chinese form *.
20	២០	bhai
40	៤០	plon
80	៨០	bhai pvan	Literally "four twenty"
100	១០០	çata	Sanskrit.
400	៤០០	slik

Proto-Khmer numbers

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.

Value	Khmer	Reconstruction	Notes
5	៥	*pram
6	៦	*
7	៧	*knuul
8	៨	*ktii	Same root as the word hand, *tii.
9	៩	*ksaar
10	១០	*kraaj	Corresponds to present-day .