ក្មេងស្រី
kmeeng srəy
The Khmer word for girl is ក្មេងស្រី (kmeeng srəy).
ក្មេងស្រី refers specifically to a young female person. Note that the component ស្រី can be used more broadly to refer to both young girls and adult women in Khmer.
Meaning: young female person (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
The term ក្មេងស្រី is a compound word. It combines ក្មេង, which means 'child' or 'young', with ស្រី, meaning 'female'.
How do you pronounce it?
kmeeng srəy
Did you know?
- Depending on the social hierarchy, a speaker might use a different term for a girl if she is of a higher royal or monastic rank, as ក្មេងស្រី is for commoners.
- When addressing a girl or young woman, Cambodians may use the word ប្អូន meaning 'younger sibling' instead of ក្មេងស្រី to show affection or kinship.
- Khmer speakers often use the word ក្មេង to describe not just children, but any person who is acting naive or immature, regardless of their actual age.
Examples in context
- ក្មេងស្រីដែលកំពុងកាន់ខ្លុយនោះហាក់ដូចជាត្រូវបានគេរំខាន។The young girl carrying a flute seemed annoyed.This sentence shows how to use ក្មេងស្រី when describing a girl with an object.Tatoeba #11485848 by Vethya, translation #6235156 by CK
- Mary គឺជាក្មេងស្រីតែម្នាក់គត់ដែលនិយាយថានាងចាប់អារម្មណ៍នឹងការធ្វើដូច្នេះ។Mary is the only other girl who said she was interested in doing that.This sentence demonstrates using ក្មេងស្រី to identify a single person.Tatoeba #11467396 by Vethya, translation #6431155 by CK
- ក្មេងស្រីម្នាក់នោះកំពុងលេងនៅក្នុងសួនច្បារ។kmeng srey mnak noh kompung leng nov knong suon chbar.That girl is playing in the garden.
Example conversation
Ratanak and Chinda are talking about a neighbor's child.
- រតនៈ Ratanakតើក្មេងស្រីម្នាក់នោះជាកូនរបស់អ្នកមែនទេ?tae kmeng srey mnak noh chea kon robos neak men te?Is that girl your daughter?
- ចិន្តា Chindaទេ នាងគឺជាក្មួយរបស់ខ្ញុំ។te, neang keu chea kmouy robos khnhom.No, she is my niece.
- រតនៈ Ratanakនាងគួរឱ្យស្រឡាញ់ណាស់។neang kuor oy srolanh nah.She is very lovely.
- ចិន្តា Chindaចា៎ អរគុណច្រើន រតនៈ។cha, orkun chreun Ratanak.Yes, thank you very much, Ratanak.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “girl” translations and entries ក្មេងស្រី, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
