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Writing Systems Technical Resources

Unicode Status for Khmer

In The Unicode Standard, Khmer script implementation is discussed in Chapter 16: Southeast Asia-I — Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam.

The Khmer script was encoded in The Unicode Standard version 3.0. Since that time the encoding has undergone a number of modifications; the script is now encoded in the following blocks:

BlocksCharacter RangeAdded in Unicode VersionUnicode Chart
Khmer1780..17FF3.0U1780.pdf
Khmer Symbols19E0..19FF4.0U19E0.pdf

Subsequent to version 3.0, the following characters have been added to the Khmer script:

CharactersUnicode VersionDocumentation
17DD4.0n2470.pdf/L2/02-100
17F0..17F94.0n2470.pdf/L2/02-100
19E0..19FF4.0n2471.pdf/L2/02-101

Documentation refers to ISO Working Group and Unicode proposals

A number of proposals for its inclusion have been submitted to the Unicode Technical Committee and WG2:

  • 1992-11-25 Unicode Technical Report #1 — Andy Daniels (TR1)

  • 1997-01-22 Proposal for encoding the Khmer script in ISO 10646 — Michael Everson ((Unofficial HTML version of WG2 N1524), L2/97-040 (not online))

  • 1998-03-17 Khmer and Burmese Ad-Hoc Meeting Report — SC2/WG2 (WG2 N1729, L2/98-101 (neither online))

  • 1998-05-05 Part 1:Architecture and Basic Multilingual Plane AMENDMENT 25: Khmer — WG2 (WG2 N1825.doc, WG2 N1825khmer.doc)

  • 1999-01-27 Soft Space in Indic scripts — Maurice Bauhahn (L2/99-037)

  • 2000-01-05 Khmer update (Amendment 25) — T.K. Sato (WG2 N2149.doc, L2/00-009)

  • 2000-02-23 10646-Amd.#25 (Khmer) correction request — Sato, WG2 (WG2 N2164.doc, L2/00-056)

  • 2000-04-06 Corrections to Khmer character tables in 10646 and Unicode — Michel Suignard (L2/00-109)

  • 2000-09-19 Working Draft of Tables & Character Names for Editorial correction to Khmer for 10646-1:2000 — Unicode (WG2 N2274, L2/00-338)

  • 2001-08-06 Serious bug in Khmer, Myanmar combining classes — Ken Whistler (L2/01-307)

  • 2001-08-07 More on L2/01-307 – Khmer and Myanmar — Martin Hosken, Ken Whistler (L2/01-308)

  • 2001-08-14 Khmer issues on the horizon — Rick McGowan, Ken Whistler (L2/01-310)

  • 2001-10-11 Response to Cambodian official objection to Khmer block (N2380) — Maurice Bauhahn, Michael Everson (WG2 N2385, L2/01-382)

  • 2001-10-14 Cambodian official objection to the existing Khmer block in UCS — Cambodia NB (WG2 N2380, L2/01-372, L2/01-421)

  • 2001-10-17 Letter from Cambodia to JTC 1 Chairman Regarding Khmer Character Encoding in ISO/IEC 10646 — Mr. Tom Frost, JTC 1 Chairman (L2/01-394)

  • 2001-11-04 Response to WG2 Document N2385, 2001-10-11 — Cambodian NB (WG2 N2406, L2/01-443)

  • 2001-12-02 Response and Proposal for Khmer Encoding — Paul Nelson (L2/02-083)

  • 2001-12-19 Ordering rules for Khmer — Kent Karlsson (L2/01-476)

  • 2002-01-14 Character Properties for avagrahas, etc. — Kenneth Whistler (L2/02-017)

  • 2002-01-14 Character Properties for repetition marks — Kenneth Whistler (L2/02-016)

  • 2002-02-08 Cambodian Thoughts — Mark Davis (L2/02-073)

  • 2002-02-13 Proposal to add Krung voicing marks — Paul Nelson (WG2 N2472, L2/02-099)

  • 2002-02-13 Proposal to add Khmer lunar dates — CHEA Sok Huor, LAO Kim Leang, HARADA Shiro, Norbert KLEIN (WG2 N2471, L2/02-101)

  • 2002-02-13 Proposal to encode Khmer subscript characters — CHEA Sok Huor, LAO Kim Leang, HARADA Shiro, Norbert KLEIN (L2/02-096)

  • 2002-02-13 Proposal to deprecate Khmer characters — CHEA Sok Huor, LAO Kim Leang, HARADA Shiro, Norbert KLEIN (L2/02-097)

  • 2002-02-13 Proposal to add missing Khmer characters — CHEA Sok Huor, LAO Kim Leang, HARADA Shiro, Norbert KLEIN (WG2 N2470, L2/02-100)

  • 2002-02-13 Proposal to add Om and Am — CHEA Sok Huor, LAO Kim Leang, HARADA Shiro, Norbert KLEIN (L2/02-098)

  • 2002-03-31 On the suitability of the COENG encoding model for Khmer — Michael Everson (WG2 N2412, L2/02-131)

  • 2002-05-03 On the unsuitability of the “COENG encoding model” for Khmer — Cambodian Committee for Standardization of Khmer Characters in Computers (WG2 N2458, L2/02-196)

  • 2002-05-14 Cambodian stance regarding Khmer code table in Unicode 3.2 — Cambodia (WG2 N2459, L2/02-211)

  • 2003-11-10 Problem with Khmer / ZWJ / ZWNJ — Mark Davis (L2/03-430)

  • 2004-03-09 Ordering rules for Khmer, Thai, and Lao; CTT suggestion — Kent Karlsson (WG2 N2717.doc, L2/04-110)

  • 2004-03-09 Ordering rules for Khmer, Thai, and Lao; suggestions for annex C.2 changes and a new annex B.5 — Kent Karlsson (WG2 N2718.doc, L2/04-111)

  • 2005-10-26 TR 29 and Myanmar/Khmer — Martin Hosken (L2/05-352)

  • 2006-07-27 Re: document Sk vs Lm — Martin Hosken (L2/06-243)

  • 2008-03-02 Criteria for the encoding of script-specific dandas — Unicode and US National Body (WG2 N3457, L2/08-118)

  • 2014-02-05 A bag of suggested improvements to Unicode’s provisional Indic properties — Roozbeh Pournader, Behdad Esfahbod (L2/14-065)

  • 2014-05-08 Improvements requested for Unicode Indic properties (two text file appendices are included) — Roozbeh Pournader (L2/14-126)

  • 2016-05-12 Additions to Indic Syllabic Category for Myanmar and Khmer — Roozbeh Pournader (L2/16-163)

  • 2020-07-02 Comments on Public Review Issues (April 20 - July 20, 2020) KHMER CONSONANT SIGN COENG DA should look like KHMER LETTER DA, not like KHMER LETTER TA — Kent Karlsson (L2/20-174)

    • Recommendations to UTC #165 October 2020 on Script Proposals (L2/20-250) (See point 16.)

  • 2021-11-20 Khmer Encoding Structure — Martin Hosken (L2/21-241)

    • Recommendations to UTC #170 January 2022 on Script Proposals (L2/22-023) (See point 13.)

    • UTC #170 Minutes (L2/22-016) (See D.1 SECTION 13 for decision and action items)

  • 2022-06-07 Proposal to Add Data for Pairs of Identical sequences — Asmus Freytag (L2/22-108)

  • 2022-06-14 Response to PRI 451 — Asmus Freytag (L2/22-114)

    • UTC #172 Minutes (L2/22-121) (See F.3 for decision and action items)

  • 2022-11-16 Khmer Encoding Structure (Nov 2022) — Martin Hosken, Norbert Lindenberg, Makara Sok (L2/22-290)

    • Recommendations to UTC #174 January 2023 on Script Proposals (L2/23-012) (See point B.13.)

    • Recommendations to UTC #175 April 2023 on Script Proposals (L2/23-083) (See point C.13.)

  • 2023-01-06 Preliminary Proposal to Update Properties for Two Khmer Characters — Steven Loomis (L2/23-018)

    • Recommendations to UTC #174 January 2023 on Script Proposals (L2/23-012) (See point B.13.)

    • UTC #175 Minutes (L2/23-076) (See F.1 Section 5.3 for decision and action items)

  • 2023-01-12 Khmer orthographic syllables — Norbert Lindenberg (L2/23-025)

    • Recommendations to UTC #175 April 2023 on Script Proposals (L2/23-083) (See point C.13.)

  • 2023-01-12 Confusables in Khmer — Martin Hosken, Makara Sok, Hour Kaing, Lyheang Ung, Diethelm Kanjahn, Norbert Lindenberg (L2/23-026)