ស្មៅ
smaw
The Khmer word for grass is ស្មៅ (smaw).
ស្មៅ is a noun used to refer to a ground cover plant.
Meaning: ground cover plant (noun)
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is smaw.
Did you know?
- While 'grass' and 'rice' are both botanically grasses, Khmer uses completely different words for them. The word for rice is ស្រូវ (srov) or អង្ករ (angkor) for uncooked grains.
- When writing ស្មៅ, the consonant 'm' is written as a subscript below the 's'. This vertical stacking is a fundamental feature of the Khmer script.
- In Khmer, the word for 'grass' is often used in the name of the 'grasshopper', specifically កណ្ដុយស្មៅ, which translates to 'grass cricket' or 'grass locust'.
Examples in context
- មានស្មៅច្រើននៅទីនេះ។mean smau chreun nov ti nis.There is a lot of grass here.
- កុំដើរលើស្មៅ។kom der ler smau.Don't walk on the grass.
- ស្មៅនេះពណ៌បៃតងខ្ចី។smau nis poa bai tong khchei.This grass is bright green.
Example conversation
At a park where Sreyniy and Sok are walking.
- ស្រីនី Sreynyសុខ មើលស្មៅនៅទីនេះចុះ!Sok merl smau nov ti nis choh!Sok, look at the grass here!
- សុខ Sokបាទ ស្មៅនៅទីនេះស្អាតណាស់។Bat, smau nov ti nis s-at nah.Yes, the grass here is very beautiful.
- ស្រីនី Sreynyតើយើងអាចអង្គុយលើស្មៅបានទេ?Tae yeung ach ang-kuy ler smau ban te?Can we sit on the grass?
- សុខ Sokមិនបានទេ ព្រោះវាសើម។Min ban te, prors vea serm.No, because it is wet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “grass” translations and entries ស្មៅ, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
