Khmer numerals

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.

• For details of the various alternative romanization systems, see Romanization of Khmer.
• Some authors may alternatively mark [ɓiː] as the pronunciation for the word two, and either [bəj] or [bei] for the word three.
• In neighbouring Thailand the number three is thought to bring good luck.[8] 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.[9][10]

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 (ប្រាំ), 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 [dɔnɗɑp] preceded by any number from one to nine, so that 15 is constructed as ប្រាំដណ្ដប់ [pram dɔnɗɑp], instead of the standard ដប់ប្រាំ [ɗɑp pram].[11]

• In constructions from 6 to 9 that use 5 as a base, /pram/ may alternatively be pronounced [pəm]; giving [pəm muːəj], [pəm piː], [pəm ɓəj], and [pəm ɓuːən]. This is especially true in dialects which elide /r/, but not necessarily restricted to them, as the pattern also follows Khmer's minor syllable pattern.

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 (i.e. their use is restricted and cannot be used outside 30 to 90) 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 [səp] and the number is still understood. For example, it is possible to say [paət muəj] (ប៉ែតមួយ) instead of the full [paət səp muəj] (ប៉ែតសិបមួយ).

Language Comparisons:

• Words in parenthesis indicate literary pronunciations, while words preceded with an asterisk mark are non-productive (i.e. only occur in specific constructions, but cannot be decomposed to form basic numbers).

The standard Khmer numbers starting from one hundred are as follows:

Although [muəj kaot] មួយកោដិ 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 [muəj rɔj kaot] មួយរយកោដិ). In order to avoid confusion, sometimes [ɗɑp liːən] ដប់លាន is used to mean ten million, along with [muəj rɔj liːən] មួយរយលាន for one hundred million, and [muəj poan liːən] មួយពាន់លាន ("one thousand million") to mean one billion.[14]

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:

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.[16]

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.[17]

Khmer ordinal numbers are formed by placing the word ទី [tiː] in front of a cardinal number.[18] This is similar to the use of ที่ thi in Thai, and thứ (from Chinese 第) in Vietnamese.

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.[20]