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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.


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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

  1. of or relating to this people or their language

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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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

Ticket sales at its world-famous Khmer monuments are down more than half from before the Covid-19 pandemic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 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

Ma also has to be extra careful because she speaks Khmer with a Chinese accent.

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

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