សប្បាយ
sapbaay
The English word 'happy' is translated into Khmer as សប្បាយ (sapbaay).
សប្បាយ is used to describe things that are happy, fun or enjoyable. In Khmer, the word for 'happy' is frequently used to mean 'fun' or 'enjoyable' when describing activities or situations.
Meaning: contented, joyous (adj)
Which one should you use?
While សប្បាយ can mean fun or happy, if you want to specifically refer to a person's internal emotional state of being happy, you should use សប្បាយចិត្ត.
How do you pronounce it?
sapbaay
Did you know?
- In casual conversation, សប្បាយ can be used as an exclamation of excitement similar to 'Yay!' or 'This is great!', rather than as a descriptive adjective.
- The root of សប្បាយ comes from the Pali word sappāya, which originally meant something 'beneficial' or 'advantageous'.
- Because សប្បាយ can mean 'fun', telling a person 'You are happy' using only this word might accidentally sound like you are saying 'You are having fun'.
Examples in context
- សប្បាយអត់?Are you happy?This sentence shows how to use សប្បាយ to ask if someone is happy.Tatoeba #4568087 by angkorsovannnaga, translation #16164 by CK
- ខ្ញុំសប្បាយចិត្តណាស់។khnhom sabaay chett nah.I am very happy.
- ធ្វើឱ្យអ្នកសប្បាយចិត្ត។thveu oy neak sabaay chett.To make you happy.
- 2 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about a recent vacation.
- ម៉ាលី Malyម៉ាលី៖ តើវិបុលសប្បាយទេពេលទៅលេងសមុទ្រ?tae Vibol sabbay te pel tov leng samut?Were you happy when you went to the beach, Vibol?
- វិបុល Vibolវិបុល៖ បាទ ខ្ញុំសប្បាយខ្លាំងណាស់!bat, khnhom sabbay khlang nah!Yes, I was very happy!
- ម៉ាលី Malyម៉ាលី៖ ខ្ញុំក៏ចង់ទៅដែរ។khnhom kor chong tov der.I want to go too.
- វិបុល Vibolវិបុល៖ ចាំខ្ញុំនាំអ្នកទៅលើកក្រោយ។cham khnhom noam neak tov luek kroy.I will take you next time.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry សប្បាយ, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries សប្បាយ, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
thanks Haley