ស្អាត
sʼaat
In Khmer, the word for beautiful is ស្អាត (sʼaat). Wiktionary also lists ល្អ (lʼɑɑ).
Meaning: attractive (adj)
Ways to say it
| Khmer | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| ស្អាត | sʼaat |
| ល្អ | lʼɑɑ |
The term is used to describe things that are attractive.
Which one should you use?
While ស្អាត (sʼaat) refers to visual beauty, it is also used to describe something that is clean or neat. In contrast, ល្អ (lʼɑɑ) refers more to being 'good' in quality or character.
How does it change in a sentence?
To say 'very beautiful', you add the intensifier ណាស់ (nah) after the adjective ស្អាត to form ស្អាតណាស់.
How do you pronounce it?
sʼaat
Did you know?
- When praising a person's appearance, ស្អាត is predominantly used for women, while សង្ហា (sang-ha) is the specific term used to call a man 'beautiful' or handsome.
- The word ល្អ is closely related to the Burmese word လှ (hla), which also means 'beautiful' or 'fair'.
- The concept of beauty in Khmer often overlaps with the concept of purity, which is why the same word is used for both 'beautiful' and 'clean'.
Examples in context
- អាកាសធាតុថ្ងៃនេះស្រស់ស្អាតជាងកាលពីម្សិលមិញ។The weather today is more beautiful than yesterday's.This sentence shows how to use the comparative form ស្អាត.Tatoeba #2895448 by angkorsovannnaga, translation #2654199 by KoreanBeaver
- ម្នាក់ស្រីកំពុងកាន់ម៉ង់ដូលីននោះពិតជាស្រស់ស្អាតណាស់។The girl carrying a mandolin was very beautiful.This sentence demonstrates the use of the adjective ស្អាត to describe a person.Tatoeba #11485846 by Vethya, translation #6234460 by CK
- ផ្កានៅក្នុងសួននោះស្អាតណាស់។phka nov knong suon noh saat nah.The flowers in that garden are very beautiful.
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Sokha and Sok are walking through a park.
- សុខា Sokhaមើលចុះ សុខ! ទិដ្ឋភាពនៅទីនេះស្អាតណាស់។meul joh, Sok! tithpheap nov ti nis saat nah.Look, Sok! The view here is so beautiful.
- សុខ Sokពិតមែនហើយ ស្អាតខ្លាំងណាស់។pit men haey, saat khlang nah.It's true, it is very beautiful.
- សុខា Sokhaខ្ញុំចូលចិត្តកន្លែងស្អាតបែបនេះ។khnom chol chet kanleng saat beb nis.I like beautiful places like this.
- សុខ Sokខ្ញុំក៏ដូចគ្នា។khnom kor doch knia.I feel the same way.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “beautiful” translations and entries ស្អាត, ល្អ, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries ល្អ, ស្អាត, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
