Austroasiatic · ISO 639-3 khm · km
Khmer Language ខ្មែរ
Khmer is an Austroasiatic language spoken by about 17 million people in 1 country. It is an official language of Cambodia. It is written in the Khmer script.
Where Khmer is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Khmer
Language family
- Austroasiatic
- Khmeric
- Khmer
Writing system
Khmer script
Related languages
About the Khmer language
Khmer (ខ្មែរ) is spoken by about 17 million people, which makes it the 79th most spoken language in the world — just behind Rangpuri (17 million) and ahead of Chhattisgarhi (16 million). It belongs to the Austroasiatic language family.
Where is Khmer spoken?
Khmer is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Cambodia (15 million). More than half of the population speaks it in Cambodia — the places where travellers will hear it everywhere.
Khmer is an official language in 1 country: Cambodia.
Writing system and status
Khmer is written in the Khmer script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Northern Khmer.
ISO codes: ISO 639-1 km, ISO 639-3 khm.
Frequently asked questions about Khmer
How many people speak Khmer?
Where is Khmer spoken?
In which countries is Khmer an official language?
What language family does Khmer belong to?
What is Khmer called in Khmer?
Is Khmer an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.