About the SEAlang Library Khmer Dictionary Resources

These resources are primarily based on the two very different editions of the Cambodian-English Dictionary: Cambodian-English Dictionary by Robert K. Headley, Kylin Chhor, Lam Kheng Lim, Lim Hak Kheang, and Chen Chun (1977, Catholic University Press), and Cambodian-English Dictionary by Robert K. Headley, Rath Chim, and Ok Soeum (1997, Dunwoody Press, ISBN 0-931745-78-0)

The 1977 edition draws heavily on traditional Cambodian lexicography; in particular, on the monumental Chuon Nath dictionary (see below).  With some 20,000 headwords and almost 25,000 subentries, it is notable for its phonemic and grammatical analyses. Headley 77 also provides extensive etymological references, with nearly 10,000 Pali and Sanskrit citations, and hundreds more from Thai, Cham, French, Vietnamese, and a dozen other languages.

The 1997 edition contains more than 50,000 entries.  It was compiled with an emphasis on the modern languge, particularly modern words, and expressions used in both written and spoken Cambodian.  However, it also contains many entries for literary and poetic forms, and can be used to help in reading classic Cambodian texts.  It has less etymological information than the '77 edition, but include far more usage (e.g. social level) tagging, and more than two thousand example sentences.

Searches in Khmer orthography will also return entries from the Chuon Nath Khmer Dictionary (1966, Buddhist Institute, Phnom Penh).  This classic work represents the high point of pre-war Cambodian lexicography,

Please see the Features for Teachers and Features for Students sections at the SEAlang Library for tips on using the dictionary, corpus, and bitext corpus tools. Ongoing development (July 1)   IPA searches for aspirated letters cʰ,kʰ,pʰ, and tʰ must use the raised 'h' (due to an oversight, the on-line dictionary data had the ordinary 'h'). Keep those reports coming! Font requirements This site requires a Khmer Unicode font.  Please go to the KhmerOS Project to obtain fonts and any necessary software.      IPA input and display prefers Charis SIL or Doulos SIL for proper rendering. Approximate matching The most interesting feature of the dictionary tool is its ability to find words by sound, using the IPA phonetic alphabet. Because even phonetic spelling may be a little confusing, IPA searches allow approximation within groups of consonants or vowels that have similar sounds. In addition, these single letters can stand in for any single character:

V     any vowel or dipthong:    ɛ,ə,ɔ,a,e,i,o,u,ei,ai,oʊ,au     C     any consonant:    ɲ,ŋ,b,c,j,d,f,h,k,l,m,n,p,r,s,t,w,y,z + xʰ

Thanks Many thanks to Robert K. Headley, without whose enthusiasm and consent this site would not be possible, and to Frank Smith and Seang Sokha for ongoing assistance.  Sor Sokny of the Buddhist Institute headed the CRCL-funded project that digitized the Chuon Nath dictionary.

Copyright notices Source material is copyright 1977 Catholic University Press / 1997 Dunwoody Press / 1966 Buddhist Institute, Phnom Penh.