Khmer

American  

[kmair, kuh-mair] / kmɛər, kəˈmɛər /

noun

1. a member of a people in Cambodia whose ancestors established an empire about the 5th century a.d. and who reached their zenith during the 9th to the 12th centuries when they dominated most of Indochina.

2. an Austroasiatic language that is the official language of Cambodia.

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Khmer British  

/ kmɜː, kmɛə /

noun

1. a member of a people of Cambodia, noted for a civilization that flourished from about 800 _ad to about 1370, remarkable for its architecture

2. the language of this people, belonging to the Mon-Khmer family: the official language of Cambodia

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adjective

1. of or relating to this people or their language

Other Word Forms

• Khmerian
  adjective

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Khmer

Born in Battambang, Ali, 52, is of mixed Malay, Khmer, Thai and Cham ethnicity, and was raised Muslim in a country that’s 96% Buddhist.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

She and her family left Cambodia in 1979 to escape the genocide committed by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime and settled in Chicago.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

Before the scandal came to light, Latchford earned acclaim for books detailing the art of the ancient Khmer Empire, which spanned modern-day Cambodia and much else of Southeast Asia.

From Barron's ● Feb. 27, 2026

During a sabbatical, she covered the Khmer Rouge trials from Cambodia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 1, 2026

They say the Youns marched into Cambodia only three weeks ago, on January 25, and through their artillery power and army defeated the Khmer Rouge, sending Pol Pot and his men running into the jungles.

From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung

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