Script guide › Brahmic / Indic
How to recognize Khmer
Khmer is one of 14 languages in Grafle's Brahmic / Indic group. Here's what it looks like, where you'll see it on signs, and how to tell it apart from its lookalikes.
Spot it fast
- Spiky and ornate — tiny hooks point right from the top of many letters, with small letters stacked underneath. Taller and pointier than Thai.
What Khmer looks like
មនុស្សទាំងអស់កើតមកមានសេរីភាព និងសមភាពក្នុងសិទ្ធិ។
សួស្តី សុខសប្បាយជាទេ?
ភាសាខ្មែរពិរោះណាស់។
Brahmic / Indic scripts: The scripts of South and Southeast Asia — letters hang from top bars, curl into loops, or stack vowel marks above and below.
Where you'll see it on signs
- Cambodia
Easy to confuse with
- Thai — Khmer is spikier and more ornate, with small subscript letters stacked underneath; Thai is simpler with its little start-loops.
- Lao — Lao is round and open; Khmer is tall, spiky and ornate with stacked subscripts.