Khmer Rouge

28 9.8

A communist group that ruled Cambodia and killed millions between 1975 and 1979

noun
/kəmˈɛr ruːʒ/

NSFW

: Jemeres Rojos

In late 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia to remove the Khmer Rouge from power and to limit China's control in Southeast Asia.
Khmer Rouge regime
Khmer Rouge came to power
Khmer Rouge rule

Examples

By 1982, international condemnation over the genocidal activities of the Khmer Rouge had become widespread.

Academic text (1995)
The Khmer Rouge targeted intellectuals as part of their brutal campaign.
My father was killed by the Khmer Rouge.

Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll (2014)
The Khmer Rouge could reach the city at any moment.

First They Killed My Father (2017)
This film is dedicated to those who lost their lives under the Khmer Rouge.

First They Killed My Father (2017)
By more efficient means, the Khmer Rouge killed over a million other people.

Academic text (2000)
The Khmer Rouge incited the poor to take up arms.

Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll (2014)
They're survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime which killed millions.
Through execution, starvation and forced labor, the Khmer Rouge systematically killed nearly a quarter of the country's population.

First They Killed My Father (2017)
For example, Pol Pot's idiosyncratic version of rural communism during the Khmer Rouge rule of Cambodia took this to the extreme.

Academic text (2008)

Synonyms

vsKhmer Rouge

3 9.9

Short name for the Khmer Rouge, the communist group that ruled Cambodia and killed millions

is the full name used to describe both rule and later guerrilla activity

Communist Party of Kampuchea

vsKhmer Rouge

NSFW

9.4

A communist political party that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and caused the deaths of millions

is the same organization but known widely by its common name and guerrilla history

Party of Democratic Kampuchea

vsKhmer Rouge

NSFW

9.9

A communist group called the Khmer Rouge that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and caused about three million deaths

is the same movement but uses a different official title rather than this name

Surface Forms

Khmer Rouge singular

Morphology

Khmer + Rouge

The phrase is a proper name combining an ethnic label ('Khmer') with 'Rouge' (French for 'red'), so a learner who recognises 'rouge' as 'red' might infer a political/communist group ('Khmer Reds'). However, many B1 learners will not know 'rouge' or realise the historical/political reference, and the phrase refers to a specific historical regime whose full meaning (brutality, dates, role) is not derivable from the parts. Because the composition gives a partial clue but not the specific historical/idiomatic sense, it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Khmer Rouge comes from Khmer, the main people of Cambodia, and the French word rouge, which means 'red'. In politics 'red' stood for communism, so Khmer Rouge literally means 'Cambodian Reds' and was the name of a communist group that took power in the 1970s and caused many deaths.