Hangul - Wikipedia

1/17/23, 9:28 AM Hangul - Wikipedia
Hangul
The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul[a] (English: /ˈhɑːnɡuːl/ HAHN-gool[1]) in South Korea and
Korean alphabet
Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language.[2][3][4] The
letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs used to pronounce them, and 한글 / 조선글
they are systematically modified to indicate phonetic features; similarly, the vowel letters are 韓㐎 / 朝鮮㐎
systematically modified for related sounds, making Hangul a featural writing system.[5][6][7] It has been Hangul (Hangeul) / Chosŏn'gŭl
described as a syllabic alphabet as it combines the features of alphabetic and syllabic writing systems,
although it is not necessarily an abugida.[6][8]
Hangul was created in 1443 CE by King Sejong the Great in an attempt to increase literacy by serving as a
complement (or alternative) to the logographic Sino-Korean Hanja, which had been used by Koreans as
its primary script to write the Korean language since as early as the Gojoseon period (spanning more than
a thousand years and ending around 108 BCE), along with the usage of Classical Chinese.[9][10] As a
result, Hangul was initially denounced and disparaged by the Korean educated class. The script became
known as eonmun ("vernacular writing", 언문, 諺文) and became the primary Korean script only in the
decades after Korea's independence from Japan in the mid-20th century.[11]
"Chosŏn'gŭl" (top) and "Hangul" (bottom)
Modern Hangul orthography uses 24 basic letters: 14 consonant letters[b] and 10 vowel letters.[c] There
are also 27 complex letters that are formed by combining the basic letters: 5 tense consonant letters,[d] 11 Script type Featural alphabet
complex consonant letters,[e] and 11 complex vowel letters.[f] Four basic letters in the original alphabet are Creator Sejong of Joseon
no longer used: 1 vowel letter[g] and 3 consonant letters.[h] Korean letters are written in syllabic blocks
with the alphabetic letters arranged in two dimensions. For example, the Korean word for "honeybee" Time 1443–present
period
(kkulbeol) is written as 꿀벌, not ㄲㅜㄹㅂㅓㄹ.[12] The syllables begin with a consonant letter, then a
vowel letter, and then potentially another consonant letter called a batchim (Korean: 받침). If the syllable Direction Hangul is usually written
begins with a vowel sound, the consonant ㅇ (ng) acts as a silent placeholder. However, when ㅇ starts a horizontally, from left to right
sentence or is placed after a long pause, it marks a glottal stop. and classically from right to
left. It is also written vertically,
Syllables may begin with basic or tense consonants but not complex ones. The vowel can be basic or from top to bottom and from
complex, and the second consonant can be basic, complex or a limited number of tense consonants. How
right to left.
the syllable is structured depends if the baseline of the vowel symbol is horizontal or vertical. If the
baseline is vertical, the first consonant and vowel are written above the second consonant (if present), but Languages Korean and Jejuan (standard);
all components are written individually from top to bottom in the case of a horizontal baseline.[12] Cia-Cia (limited use)
ISO 15924
As in traditional Chinese and Japanese writing, as well as many other texts in East Asia, Korean texts were
traditionally written top to bottom, right to left, as is occasionally still the way for stylistic purposes. ISO 15924 Hang (286), Hangul (Hangŭl,
However, Korean is now typically written from left to right with spaces between words serving as dividers, Hangeul) Jamo (for the jamo
unlike in Japanese and Chinese.[7] Hangul is the official writing system throughout Korea, both North and subset)
South. It is a co-official writing system in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and Changbai Unicode
Korean Autonomous County in Jilin Province, China. Hangul has also seen limited use in the Cia-Cia
Unicode Hangul
language.
alias
Unicode U+1100–U+11FF
range
Contents U+3130–U+318F
U+A960–U+A97F
Names
U+D7B0–U+D7FF
Official names
Other names
History
Creation
Opposition
Revival
Reforms and suppression under Japanese rule
Further reforms
In South Korea
In North Korea
Non-Korean languages
Letters
Consonants
Consonant assimilation
Vowels
Alphabetic order
Historical orders
North Korean order
South Korean order
Letter names
In North Korea
In South Korea
Stroke order
Letter design
Consonant design
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul 1/22
Vowel design
Simple vowels
Compound vowels
Iotized vowels
Traditional account
Ledyard's theory of consonant design
Hangul supremacy theory
Obsolete letters
Most common
Restored letters
Unicode
Morpho-syllabic blocks
Letter placement within a block
Block shape
Linear Korean
Orthography
Mixed scripts
Readability
Style
See also
Notes
Citations
References
External links
Names
Official names
The Korean alphabet was originally named Hunminjeong'eum (훈민정음) by King Sejong the Great in Korean name (North Korea)
1443.[10] Hunminjeong'eum (훈민정음) is also the document that explained logic and science behind the Chosŏn'gŭl 조선글
script in 1446.
Hancha 朝鮮㐎
The name hangeul (한글) was coined by Korean linguist Ju Si-gyeong in 1912. The name combines the Revised Joseon(-)geul
ancient Korean word han (한), meaning great, and geul (글), meaning script. The word han is used to refer to Romanization
Korea in general, so the name also means Korean script.[14] It has been romanized in multiple ways:
McCune– Chosŏn'gŭl
Hangeul or han-geul in the Revised Romanization of Korean, which the South Korean government uses Reischauer
in English publications and encourages for all purposes. IPA Korean
Han'gŭl in the McCune–Reischauer system, is often capitalized and rendered without the diacritics when pronunciation: [tso.sɔn.ɡɯl]
used as an English word, Hangul, as it appears in many English dictionaries.
hān kul in the Yale romanization, a system recommended for technical linguistic studies. Korean name (South Korea)
North Koreans call the alphabet Chosŏn'gŭl (조선글), after Chosŏn, the North Korean name for Korea.[15] A
Hangul 한글
variant of the McCune–Reischauer system is used there for romanization. Hanja 韓㐎
Revised Han(-)geul
Other names Romanization
McCune– Han'gŭl[13]
Until the mid-20th century, the Korean elite preferred to write using Chinese characters called Hanja. They Reischauer
referred to Hanja as jinseo (진서/ 真書 ) meaning true letters. Some accounts say the elite referred to the
Korean alphabet derisively as 'amkeul (암클) meaning women's script, and 'ahaetgeul (아햇글) meaning IPA Korean
children's script, though there is no written evidence of this.[16] pronunciation: [ha(ː)n.ɡɯl]
Supporters of the Korean alphabet referred to it as jeong'eum (정음/ 正音 ) meaning correct

pronunciation, gungmun (국문/ 國文 ) meaning national script, and eonmun (언문/ 諺文 ) meaning
vernacular script.[16]
History
Creation
The word "Hangul", written in the Korean alphabet
Koreans primarily wrote using Classical Chinese alongside native phonetic writing systems that
predate Hangul by hundreds of years, including Idu script, Hyangchal, Gugyeol and
Gakpil.[17][18][19][20] However, many lower class uneducated Koreans were illiterate due to the difficulty of learning the Korean and Chinese
languages, as well as the large number of Chinese characters that are used.[21] To promote literacy among the common people, the fourth king of the
Joseon dynasty, Sejong the Great, personally created and promulgated a new alphabet.[3][21][22] Although it is widely assumed that King Sejong
ordered the Hall of Worthies to invent Hangul, contemporary records such as the Veritable Records of King Sejong and Jeong Inji's preface to the
Hunminjeongeum Haerye emphasize that he invented it himself.[23]
The Korean alphabet was designed so that people with little education could learn to read and write. A popular saying about the alphabet is, "A wise
man can acquaint himself with them before the morning is over; even a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days."[24]
The project was completed in late December 1443 or January 1444, and described in 1446 in a document titled
Hunminjeong'eum (The Proper Sounds for the Education of the People), after which the alphabet itself was
originally named.[16] The publication date of the Hunminjeongeum, October 9, became Hangul Day in South
Korea. Its North Korean equivalent, Chosŏn'gŭl Day, is on January 15.
Another document published in 1446 and titled Hunminjeong'eum Haerye (Hunminjeong'eum Explanation and
Examples) was discovered in 1940. This document explains that the design of the consonant letters is based on
articulatory phonetics and the design of the vowel letters is based on the principles of yin and yang and vowel
harmony.
Opposition
The Korean alphabet faced opposition in the 1440s by the literary elite, including Choe Manri and other Korean
Confucian scholars. They believed Hanja was the only legitimate writing system. They also saw the circulation of
the Korean alphabet as a threat to their status.[21] However, the Korean alphabet entered popular culture as King A page from the Hunminjeong'eum
Sejong had intended, used especially by women and writers of popular fiction.[25] Eonhae. The Hangul-only column,
third from the left (나랏말ᄊᆞ미), has
King Yeonsangun banned the study and publication of the Korean alphabet in 1504, after a document criticizing pitch-accent diacritics to the left of
the king was published.[26] Similarly, King Jungjong abolished the Ministry of Eonmun, a governmental the syllable blocks.
institution related to Hangul research, in 1506.[27]
Revival
The late 16th century, however, saw a revival of the Korean alphabet as gasa and sijo poetry flourished. In the 17th century, the Korean alphabet
novels became a major genre.[28] However, the use of the Korean alphabet had gone without orthographical standardization for so long that spelling
had become quite irregular.[25]
In 1796, the Dutch scholar Isaac Titsingh became the first person to bring a book written in Korean to the Western
world. His collection of books included the Japanese book, Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu (An Illustrated Description
of Three Countries) by Hayashi Shihei.[29] This book, which was published in 1785, described the Joseon
Kingdom[30] and the Korean alphabet.[31] In 1832, the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
supported the posthumous abridged publication of Titsingh's French translation.[32]
Thanks to growing Korean nationalism, the Gabo Reformists' push, and Western missionaries' promotion of the
Korean alphabet in schools and literature,[33] the Hangul Korean alphabet was adopted in official documents for
the first time in 1894.[26] Elementary school texts began using the Korean alphabet in 1895, and Tongnip Sinmun,
established in 1896, was the first newspaper printed in both Korean and English.[34]
Reforms and suppression under Japanese rule
After the Japanese annexation, which occurred in 1910, Japanese was made the official language of Korea.
However, the Korean alphabet was still taught in Korean-established schools built after the annexation and
Korean was written in a mixed Hanja-Hangul script, where most lexical roots were written in Hanja and
grammatical forms in the Korean alphabet. Japan banned earlier Korean literature from public schooling, which
became mandatory for children.[35]
Songangasa, a collection of poems
The orthography of the Korean alphabet was partially standardized in 1912, when the vowel arae-a (ㆍ)—which
by Jeong Cheol, printed in 1768.
has now disappeared from Korean—was restricted to Sino-Korean roots: the emphatic consonants were
standardized to ㅺ, ㅼ, ㅽ, ㅆ, ㅾ and final consonants restricted to ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅇ, ㄺ, ㄻ, ㄼ. Long vowels
were marked by a diacritic dot to the left of the syllable, but this was dropped in 1921.[25]
A second colonial reform occurred in 1930. The arae-a was abolished: the emphatic consonants were changed to ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ and more final
consonants ㄷ, ㅈ, ㅌ, ㅊ, ㅍ, ㄲ, ㄳ, ㄵ, ㄾ, ㄿ, ㅄ were allowed, making the orthography more morphophonemic. The double consonant ㅆ was
written alone (without a vowel) when it occurred between nouns, and the nominative particle 가 was introduced after vowels, replacing 이.[25]
Ju Si-gyeong, the linguist who had coined the term Hangul to replace Eonmun or Vulgar Script in 1912, established the Korean Language Research
Society (later renamed the Hangul Society), which further reformed orthography with Standardized System of Hangul in 1933. The principal change
was to make the Korean alphabet as morphophonemically practical as possible given the existing letters.[25] A system for transliterating foreign
orthographies was published in 1940.
Japan banned the Korean language from schools and public offices in 1938 and excluded Korean courses from the elementary education in 1941 as
part of a policy of cultural genocide.[36][37]
Further reforms
The definitive modern Korean alphabet orthography was published in 1946, just after Korean independence from Japanese rule. In 1948, North
Korea attempted to make the script perfectly morphophonemic through the addition of new letters, and in 1953, Syngman Rhee in South Korea
attempted to simplify the orthography by returning to the colonial orthography of 1921, but both reforms were abandoned after only a few years.[25]
Both North Korea and South Korea have used the Korean alphabet or mixed script as their official writing system, with ever-decreasing use of Hanja
especially in the North.
In South Korea
Beginning in the 1970s, Hanja began to experience a gradual decline in commercial or unofficial writing in the South due to government intervention,
with some South Korean newspapers now only using Hanja as abbreviations or disambiguation of homonyms. However, as Korean documents,
history, literature and records throughout its history until the contemporary period were written primarily in Literary Chinese using Hanja as its
primary script, a good working knowledge of Chinese characters especially in the academia is still important for anyone who wishes to interpret and
study older texts from Korea, or anyone who wishes to read scholarly texts in the humanities.[38]
A high proficiency in Hanja is also useful for understanding the etymology of Sino-Korean words as well as to enlarge one's Korean vocabulary.[38]
In North Korea
North Korea instated Hangul as its exclusive writing system in 1949 on the orders of Kim Il-sung of the Workers' Party of Korea, and officially banned
the use of Hanja.[39]
Non-Korean languages
Systems that employed Hangul letters with modified rules were attempted by linguists such as Hsu Tsao-te and Ang Ui-jin to transcribe Taiwanese
Hokkien, a Sinitic language, but the usage of Chinese characters ultimately ended up being the most practical solution and was endorsed by the
Ministry of Education (Taiwan).[40][41][42]
The Hunminjeong'eum Society in Seoul attempted to spread the use of Hangul to unwritten languages of Asia.[43] In 2009, it was unofficially adopted
by the town of Baubau, in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, to write the Cia-Cia language.[44][45][46][47]
A number of Indonesian Cia-Cia speakers who visited Seoul generated large media attention in South Korea, and they were greeted on their arrival by
Oh Se-hoon, the mayor of Seoul.[48] However, it was confirmed in October 2012 that the attempts to disseminate the use of the Korean alphabet in
Indonesia ultimately failed.[49]
Letters
Letters in the Korean alphabet are called jamo (자모). There are 19 consonants (자음) and 21 vowels (모음) used in
the modern alphabet. They were first named in Hunmongjahoe, a hanja textbook written by Choe Sejin.
Consonants
The chart below shows all 19 consonants in South Korean alphabetic order with Revised Romanization equivalents
for each letter and pronunciation in IPA (see Korean phonology for more).
Hangul ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ
Romanization g kk n d tt r m b pp s ss ' [i] j jj ch k t p h

Initial
IPA /k/ /k͈ / /n/ /t/ /t͈ / /ɾ/ /m/ /p/ /p͈ / /s/ /s͈ / silent /t͡ ɕ/ /t͈͡ ɕ͈ / /t͡ ɕʰ/ /kʰ/ /tʰ/ /pʰ/ /h/
k k n t l m p t t ng t t k t p t
Romanization – – –
Final g kk n d l m b s ss ng j ch k t p h
IPA /k̚ / /n/ /t̚ / – /ɭ/ /m/ /p̚ / – /t̚ / /ŋ/ /t̚ / – /t̚ / /k̚ / /t̚ / /p̚ / /t̚ /
ㅇ is silent syllable-initially and is used as a placeholder when the syllable starts with a vowel. ㄸ, ㅃ, and ㅉ are
never used syllable-finally.
Consonants are broadly categorized into either obstruents (sounds produced when airflow either completely stops
Korean alphabet letters and
(i.e., a plosive consonant) or passes through a narrow opening (i.e., a fricative)) or sonorants (sounds produced when
pronunciation
air flows out with little to no obstruction through the mouth, nose, or both).[50] The chart below lists the Korean
consonants by their respective categories and subcategories.
Consonants in Standard Korean (orthography)[51]

Bilabial Alveolar Alveolo-palatal Velar Glottal
Lax p (ㅂ) t (ㄷ) k (ㄱ)
Stop (plosive) Tense p͈ (ㅃ) t͈ (ㄸ) k͈ (ㄲ) The shape of tongue

Aspirated tʰ (ㅌ) when pronouncing ㄱ
pʰ (ㅍ) kʰ (ㅋ)
(g)
Lax s (ㅅ) h (ㅎ)
Obstruent Fricative
Tense s͈ (ㅆ)
Lax t͡ ɕ (ㅈ)
Affricate Tense t͈͡ ɕ͈ (ㅉ)
Aspirated t͡ ɕʰ (ㅊ)
The shape of tongue
Nasal m (ㅁ) n (ㄴ) ŋ (ㅇ)
Sonorant when pronouncing ㄴ
Liquid (lateral approximant) l (ㄹ) (n)
All Korean obstruents are voiceless in that the larynx does not vibrate when producing those sounds and are further
distinguished by degree of aspiration and tenseness. The tensed consonants are produced by constricting the vocal chords
while heavily aspirated consonants (such as the Korean ㅍ, /pʰ/) are produced by opening them.[50]
Korean sonorants are voiced.
The shape of teeth

Consonant assimilation and tongue when
pronouncing ㅅ (s)
The pronunciation of a syllable-final consonant (which may already differ from its syllable-initial sound) may be affected by
the following letter, and vice-versa. The table below describes these assimilation rules. Spaces are left blank when no
modification is made to the normal syllable-final sound.
ㅇ (ng) is similar to
the throat hole.
ㅁ (m) is similar to a
closed mouth.
Assimilation: pronunciation of the combination bet
ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ
(k) (k) (n) (t) (l) (m)
ㄱ(g) k+k n+g t+g l+g m+g
ㄴ(n) ng+n n+n l+n m+n
ㄷ(d) k+d n+d t+t l+d m+d
ㄹ(r) g+n n+n l+l m+n
ㅁ(m) g+m n+m t+m l+m m+m

Subsequent
syllable ㅂ(b) g+b
block's
initial letter ㅅ (s)
ㅇ(∅) g kk+h n t r m
ㅈ(j)
r/
ㅎ(h) k kk+h n+h t m+h

l+h
Consonant assimilation occurs as a result of intervocalic voicing. When surrounded by vowels or sonorant consonants such as ㅁ or ㄴ, a stop will
take on the characteristics of its surrounding sound. Since plain stops (like ㄱ /k/) are produced with relaxed vocal chords that are not tensed, they
are more likely to be affected by surrounding voiced sounds (which are produced by vocal chords that are vibrating).[50]
Below are examples of how lax consonants (ㅂ /p/, ㄷ /t/, ㅈ /t͡ ɕ/, ㄱ /k/) change due to location in a word. Letters in bolded interface show
intervocalic weakening, or the softening of the lax consonants to their sonorous counterparts.[50]
밥 [pap̚ ] – 'rice'
보리밥 [poɾibap̚ ] – 'barley mixed with rice'
다 [ta] – 'all'
맏 [mat̚ ] – 'oldest'
맏아들 [madadɯɭ] – 'oldest son'
죽 [t͡ ɕuk] – 'porridge'

콩죽 [kʰoŋd͡ ʑuk̚ ] – 'bean porridge'
공 [koŋ] – 'ball'
새 공 [sɛgoŋ] – 'new ball'
The consonants ㄹ and ㅎ also experience weakening. The liquid ㄹ, when in an intervocalic position, will be weakened to a [ɾ]. For example, the final
ㄹ in the word 말 ([maɭ], 'word') changes when followed by the subject marker 이 (ㅇ being a sonorant consonant), and changes to a [ɾ] to become
[maɾi].
ㅎ /h/ is very weak and is usually deleted in Korean words, as seen in words like 괜찮아요 /kwɛnt͡ ɕʰanhajo/ [kwɛnt͡ ɕʰanajo]. However, instead of being
completely deleted, it leaves remnants by devoicing the following sound or by acting as a glottal stop.[50]
Lax consonants are tensed when following other obstruents due to the fact that the first obstruent's articulation is not released. Tensing can be seen
in words like 입구 ('entrance') /ipku/ which is pronounced as [ip̚ k͈ u].
Consonants in the Korean alphabet can be combined into one of 11 consonant clusters, which always appear in the final position in a syllable block.
They are: ㄳ, ㄵ, ㄶ, ㄺ, ㄻ, ㄼ, ㄽ, ㄾ, ㄿ, ㅀ, and ㅄ.
Consonant cluster c
(e.g. [in isolation] 닭 dag; [preceding another syllable block] 없다 – eop-ta, 앉아 an-ja)
ㄳ ㄵ ㄶ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ
Preceding syllable
block's final letter* (gs) (nj) (nh) (lg) (lm) (lb)
(pronunciation in
g nj nh g m b
isolation)
ㅇ(∅) g+s n+j l+h l+g l+m l+b

Subsequent
block's nj+d/
initial
ㄷ(d) g+t n+t g+d m+d b+d
letter** nt+ch
In cases where consonant clusters are followed by words beginning with ㅇ or ㄷ, the consonant cluster is resyllabified through a phonological
phenomenon called liaison. In words where the first consonant of the consonant cluster is ㅂ,ㄱ, or ㄴ (the stop consonants), articulation stops and
the second consonant cannot be pronounced without releasing the articulation of the first once. Hence, in words like 값 /kaps/ ('price'), the ㅅ cannot
be articulated and the word is thus pronounced as [kap̚ ]. The second consonant is usually revived when followed by a word with initial ㅇ (값이 →
[kap̚ .si]. Other examples include 삶 (/salm/ [sam], 'life'). The ㄹ in the final consonant cluster is generally lost in pronunciation, however when
followed by the subject marker 이, the ㄹ is revived and the ㅁ takes the place of the blank consonant ㅇ. Thus, 삶이 is pronounced as [sal.mi].
Vowels
The chart below shows the 21 vowels used in the modern Korean alphabet in South Korean alphabetic order with Revised Romanization equivalents
for each letter and pronunciation in IPA (see Korean phonology for more).
Hangul ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ
ui/
Revised
a ae ya yae eo e yeo ye o wa wae oe yo u wo we wi yu eu i
Romanization yi
/ø/ ~ /y/ ~ /
IPA /a/ /ɛ/ /ja/ /jɛ/ /ʌ/ /e/ /jʌ/ /je/ /o/ /wa/ /wɛ/ /jo/ /u/ /wʌ/ /we/ /ju/ /ɰi/ /i/
[we] [ɥi] ɯ/
The vowels are generally separated into two categories: monophthongs and diphthongs. Monophthongs are produced with a single articulatory
movement (hence the prefix mono), while diphthongs feature an articulatory change. Diphthongs have two constituents: a glide (or a semivowel) and
a monophthong. There is some disagreement about exactly how many vowels are considered Korean's monophthongs; the largest inventory features
ten, while some scholars have proposed eight or nine. This divergence reveals two issues: whether Korean has two front rounded vowels (i.e. /ø/ and
/y/); and, secondly, whether Korean has three levels of front vowels in terms of vowel height (i.e. whether /e/ and /ɛ/ are distinctive).[51] Actual
phonological studies done by studying formant data show that current speakers of Standard Korean do not differentiate between the vowels ㅔ and ㅐ
in pronunciation.[52]
Alphabetic order
Alphabetic order in the Korean alphabet is called the ganada order, (가나다순) after the first three letters of the alphabet. The alphabetical order of
the Korean alphabet does not mix consonants and vowels. Rather, first are velar consonants, then coronals, labials, sibilants, etc. The vowels come
after the consonants.[53]
Historical orders
The order from the Hunminjeongeum in 1446 was:[54]
ㄱㄲㅋㆁㄷㄸㅌㄴㅂㅃㅍㅁㅈㅉㅊㅅㅆㆆㅎㆅㅇㄹㅿ
ㆍㅡㅣㅗㅏㅜㅓㅛㅑㅠㅕ
This is the basis of the modern alphabetic orders. It was before the development of the Korean tense consonants and the double letters that represent
them, and before the conflation of the letters ㅇ (null) and ㆁ (ng). Thus, when the North Korean and South Korean governments implemented full
use of the Korean alphabet, they ordered these letters differently, with North Korea placing new letters at the end of the alphabet and South Korea
grouping similar letters together.[55][56]
North Korean order
The new, double, letters are placed at the end of the consonants, just before the null ㅇ, so as not to alter the traditional order of the rest of the
alphabet.
ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅇㅈㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎㄲㄸㅃㅆㅉ
ㅏㅑㅓㅕㅗㅛㅜㅠㅡㅣㅐㅒㅔㅖㅚㅟㅢㅘㅝㅙㅞ
All digraphs and trigraphs, including the old diphthongs ㅐ and ㅔ, are placed after the simple vowels, again maintaining Choe's alphabetic order.
The order of the final letters (받침) is:
(none) ㄱ ㄳ ㄴ ㄵ ㄶ ㄷ ㄹ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅁ ㅂ ㅄ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㄲ ㅆ
(None means there is no final letter.)
Unlike when it is initial, this ㅇ is pronounced, as the nasal ㅇ ng, which occurs only as a final in the modern language. The double letters are placed
to the very end, as in the initial order, but the combined consonants are ordered immediately after their first element.[55]
South Korean order
In the Southern order, double letters are placed immediately after their single counterparts:
ㄱㄲㄴㄷㄸㄹㅁㅂㅃㅅㅆㅇㅈㅉㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎ
ㅏㅐㅑㅒㅓㅔㅕㅖㅗㅘㅙㅚㅛㅜㅝㅞㅟㅠㅡㅢㅣ
The modern monophthongal vowels come first, with the derived forms interspersed according to their form: i is added first, then iotized, then iotized
with added i. Diphthongs beginning with w are ordered according to their spelling, as ㅗ or ㅜ plus a second vowel, not as separate digraphs.
The order of the final letters is:
(none) ㄱ ㄲ ㄳ ㄴ ㄵ ㄶ ㄷ ㄹ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅁ ㅂ ㅄ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ
Every syllable begins with a consonant (or the silent ㅇ) that is followed by a vowel (e.g. ㄷ + ㅏ = 다). Some syllables such as 달 and 닭 have a final
consonant or final consonant cluster (받침). Then, 399 combinations are possible for two-letter syllables and 10,773 possible combinations for
syllables with more than two letters (27 possible final endings), for a total of 11,172 possible combinations of Korean alphabet letters to form
syllables.[55]
The sort order including archaic Hangul letters defined in the South Korean national standard KS X 1026-1 is:[57]
Initial consonants: ᄀ, ᄁ, ᅚ, ᄂ, ᄓ, ᄔ, ᄕ, ᄖ, ᅛ, ᅜ, ᅝ, ᄃ, ᄗ, ᄄ, ᅞ, ꥠ, ꥡ, ꥢ, ꥣ, ᄅ, ꥤ, ꥥ, ᄘ, ꥦ, ꥧ, ᄙ, ꥨ, ꥩ, ꥪ, ꥫ, ꥬ, ꥭ, ꥮ, ᄚ, ᄛ, ᄆ,
ꥯ, ꥰ, ᄜ, ꥱ, ᄝ, ᄇ, ᄞ, ᄟ, ᄠ, ᄈ, ᄡ, ᄢ, ᄣ, ᄤ, ᄥ, ᄦ, ꥲ, ᄧ, ᄨ, ꥳ, ᄩ, ᄪ, ꥴ, ᄫ, ᄬ, ᄉ, ᄭ, ᄮ, ᄯ, ᄰ, ᄱ, ᄲ, ᄳ, ᄊ, ꥵ, ᄴ, ᄵ, ᄶ, ᄷ, ᄸ, ᄹ,
ᄺ, ᄻ, ᄼ, ᄽ, ᄾ, ᄿ, ᅀ, ᄋ, ᅁ, ᅂ, ꥶ, ᅃ, ᅄ, ᅅ, ᅆ, ᅇ, ᅈ, ᅉ, ᅊ, ᅋ, ꥷ, ᅌ, ᄌ, ᅍ, ᄍ, ꥸ, ᅎ, ᅏ, ᅐ, ᅑ, ᄎ, ᅒ, ᅓ, ᅔ, ᅕ, ᄏ, ᄐ, ꥹ, ᄑ, ᅖ, ꥺ,
ᅗ, ᄒ, ꥻ, ᅘ, ᅙ, ꥼ, (filler; U+115F)
Medial vowels: (filler; U+1160), ᅡ, ᅶ, ᅷ, ᆣ, ᅢ, ᅣ, ᅸ, ᅹ, ᆤ, ᅤ, ᅥ, ᅺ, ᅻ, ᅼ, ᅦ, ᅧ, ᆥ, ᅽ, ᅾ, ᅨ, ᅩ, ᅪ, ᅫ, ᆦ, ᆧ, ᅿ, ᆀ, ힰ, ᆁ, ᆂ, ힱ, ᆃ,
ᅬ, ᅭ, ힲ, ힳ, ᆄ, ᆅ, ힴ, ᆆ, ᆇ, ᆈ, ᅮ, ᆉ, ᆊ, ᅯ, ᆋ, ᅰ, ힵ, ᆌ, ᆍ, ᅱ, ힶ, ᅲ, ᆎ, ힷ, ᆏ, ᆐ, ᆑ, ᆒ, ힸ, ᆓ, ᆔ, ᅳ, ힹ, ힺ, ힻ, ힼ, ᆕ, ᆖ, ᅴ, ᆗ, ᅵ,
ᆘ, ᆙ, ힽ, ힾ, ힿ, ퟀ, ᆚ, ퟁ, ퟂ, ᆛ, ퟃ, ᆜ, ퟄ, ᆝ, ᆞ, ퟅ, ᆟ, ퟆ, ᆠ, ᆡ, ᆢ
Final consonants: (none), ᆨ, ᆩ, ᇺ, ᇃ, ᇻ, ᆪ, ᇄ, ᇼ, ᇽ, ᇾ, ᆫ, ᇅ, ᇿ, ᇆ, ퟋ, ᇇ, ᇈ, ᆬ, ퟌ, ᇉ, ᆭ, ᆮ, ᇊ, ퟍ, ퟎ, ᇋ, ퟏ, ퟐ, ퟑ, ퟒ, ퟓ, ퟔ, ᆯ, ᆰ,
ퟕ, ᇌ, ퟖ, ᇍ, ᇎ, ᇏ, ᇐ, ퟗ, ᆱ, ᇑ, ᇒ, ퟘ, ᆲ, ퟙ, ᇓ, ퟚ, ᇔ, ᇕ, ᆳ, ᇖ, ᇗ, ퟛ, ᇘ, ᆴ, ᆵ, ᆶ, ᇙ, ퟜ, ퟝ, ᆷ, ᇚ, ퟞ, ퟟ, ᇛ, ퟠ, ᇜ, ퟡ, ᇝ, ᇞ, ᇟ, ퟢ,
ᇠ, ᇡ, ᇢ, ᆸ, ퟣ, ᇣ, ퟤ, ퟥ, ퟦ, ᆹ, ퟧ, ퟨ, ퟩ, ᇤ, ᇥ, ᇦ, ᆺ, ᇧ, ᇨ, ᇩ, ퟪ, ᇪ, ퟫ, ᆻ, ퟬ, ퟭ, ퟮ, ퟯ, ퟰ, ퟱ, ퟲ, ᇫ, ퟳ, ퟴ, ᆼ, ᇰ, ᇬ, ᇭ, ퟵ, ᇱ, ᇲ,
ᇮ, ᇯ, ퟶ, ᆽ, ퟷ, ퟸ, ퟹ, ᆾ, ᆿ, ᇀ, ᇁ, ᇳ, ퟺ, ퟻ, ᇴ, ᇂ, ᇵ, ᇶ, ᇷ, ᇸ, ᇹ

Sort order of Hangul Sort order of Hangul

consonants defined vowels defined in
in the South Korean the South Korean
national standard national standard
KS X 1026-1 KS X 1026-1
Letter names
Letters in the Korean alphabet were named by Korean linguist Choe Sejin in 1527. South Korea uses Choe's traditional names, most of which follow
the format of letter + i + eu + letter. Choe described these names by listing Hanja characters with similar pronunciations. However, as the syllables 윽
euk, 읃 eut, and 읏 eut did not occur in Hanja, Choe gave those letters the modified names 기역 giyeok, 디귿 digeut, and 시옷 siot, using Hanja that
did not fit the pattern (for 기역) or native Korean syllables (for 디귿 and 시옷).[58]
Originally, Choe gave ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, and ㅎ the irregular one-syllable names of ji, chi, ḳi, ṭi, p̣i, and hi, because they should not be used as final
consonants, as specified in Hunminjeongeum. However, after establishment of the new orthography in 1933, which let all consonants be used as
finals, the names changed to the present forms.
In North Korea
The chart below shows names used in North Korea for consonants in the Korean alphabet. The letters are arranged in North Korean alphabetic order,
and the letter names are romanised with the McCune–Reischauer system, which is widely used in North Korea. The tense consonants are described
with the word 된 toen meaning hard.
Consonant ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅇ ㅉ
Name 기윽 니은 디읃 리을 미음 비읍 시읏 지읒 치읓 키읔 티읕 피읖 히읗 된기윽 된디읃 된비읍 된시읏 이응 된지읒

McCR kiŭk niŭn diŭt riŭl miŭm piŭp siŭt jiŭt chiŭt ḳiŭk ṭiŭt p̣iŭp hiŭt toen'giŭk toendiŭt toenbiŭp toensiŭt 'iŭng toenjiŭt
In North Korea, an alternative way to refer to a consonant is letter + ŭ (ㅡ), for example, gŭ (그) for the letter ㄱ, and ssŭ (쓰) for the letter ㅆ.
As in South Korea, the names of vowels in the Korean alphabet are the same as the sound of each vowel.
In South Korea
The chart below shows names used in South Korea for consonants of the Korean alphabet. The letters are arranged in the South Korean alphabetic
order, and the letter names are romanised in the Revised Romanization system, which is the official romanization system of South Korea. The tense
consonants are described with the word 쌍 ssang meaning double.
Consonant ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ
Name 니 리 미 비 지 치 키 티 피 히
(Hangul) 기역 쌍기역 디귿 쌍디귿 쌍비읍 시옷 쌍시옷 이응 쌍지읒
은 을 음 읍 읒 읓 읔 읕 읖 읗
Name gi- ssang- ni- ssang- ri- mi- bi- ssang- si-ot ssang-si-ot 'i- ji- ssang- chi- ḳi- ṭi- p̣i- hi-
digeut
(romanised) yeok giyeok eun digeut eul eum eup bi-eup (shi-ot) (ssang-shi-ot) eung eut ji-eut eut euk eut eup eut
Stroke order
Letters in the Korean alphabet have adopted certain rules of Chinese calligraphy, although ㅇ and ㅎ use a circle, which is not used in printed Chinese
characters.[59][60]
ㄱ (giyeok 기역) ㄴ (nieun 니은) ㄷ (digeut 디귿) ㄹ (rieul 리을) ㅁ (mieum 미음)
ㅂ (bieup 비읍) ㅅ (siot 시옷) ㅇ (ieung 이응) ㅈ (jieut 지읒) ㅊ (chieut 치읓)
ㅋ (ḳieuk 키읔) ㅌ (ṭieut 티읕) ㅍ (p̣ieup 피읖) ㅎ (hieuh 히읗) ㅏ (a)
ㅐ (ae) ㅓ (eo) ㅔ (e) ㅗ (o) ㅜ (u)
ㅡ (eu)
For the iotized vowels, which are not shown, the short stroke is simply doubled.
Letter design
Scripts typically transcribe languages at the level of morphemes (logographic scripts like Hanja), of syllables (syllabaries like kana), of segments
(alphabetic scripts like the Latin script used to write English and many other languages), or, on occasion, of distinctive features. The Korean alphabet
incorporates aspects of the latter three, grouping sounds into syllables, using distinct symbols for segments, and in some cases using distinct strokes
to indicate distinctive features such as place of articulation (labial, coronal, velar, or glottal) and manner of articulation (plosive, nasal, sibilant,
aspiration) for consonants, and iotization (a preceding i-sound), harmonic class and i-mutation for vowels.
For instance, the consonant ㅌ ṭ [tʰ] is composed of three strokes, each one meaningful: the top stroke indicates ㅌ is a plosive, like ㆆ ʔ, ㄱ g, ㄷ d, ㅈ
j, which have the same stroke (the last is an affricate, a plosive–fricative sequence); the middle stroke indicates that ㅌ is aspirated, like ㅎ h, ㅋ ḳ, ㅊ
ch, which also have this stroke; and the bottom stroke indicates that ㅌ is alveolar, like ㄴ n, ㄷ d, and ㄹ l. (It is said to represent the shape of the
tongue when pronouncing coronal consonants, though this is not certain.) Two obsolete consonants, ㆁ and ㅱ, have dual pronunciations, and appear
to be composed of two elements corresponding to these two pronunciations: [ŋ]~silence for ㆁ and [m]~[w] for ㅱ.
With vowel letters, a short stroke connected to the main line of the letter indicates that this is one of the vowels that can be iotized; this stroke is then
doubled when the vowel is iotized. The position of the stroke indicates which harmonic class the vowel belongs to, light (top or right) or dark (bottom
or left). In the modern alphabet, an additional vertical stroke indicates i mutation, deriving ㅐ [ɛ], ㅚ [ø], and ㅟ [y] from ㅏ [a], ㅗ [o], and ㅜ [u].
However, this is not part of the intentional design of the script, but rather a natural development from what were originally diphthongs ending in the
vowel ㅣ [i]. Indeed, in many Korean dialects, including the standard dialect of Seoul, some of these may still be diphthongs. For example, in the
Seoul dialect, ㅚ may alternatively be pronounced [we̞ ], and ㅟ [ɥi]. Note: ㅔ [e] as a morpheme is ㅓ combined with ㅣ as a vertical stroke. As a
phoneme, its sound is not by i mutation of ㅓ [ʌ].
Beside the letters, the Korean alphabet originally employed diacritic marks to indicate pitch accent. A syllable with a high pitch (거성) was marked
with a dot (〮) to the left of it (when writing vertically); a syllable with a rising pitch (상성) was marked with a double dot, like a colon (〯). These are
no longer used, as modern Seoul Korean has lost tonality. Vowel length has also been neutralized in Modern Korean[61] and is no longer written.
Consonant design
The consonant letters fall into five homorganic groups, each with a basic shape, and one or more letters derived from this shape by means of
additional strokes. In the Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye account, the basic shapes iconically represent the articulations the tongue, palate, teeth, and
throat take when making these sounds.
Velar consonants (아음, 牙音 a'eum "molar sounds") Simple Aspirated Tense

ㄱ g [k], ㅋ ḳ [kʰ] velar ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ
Basic shape: ㄱ is a side view of the back of the tongue raised toward the velum (soft palate). (For fricatives ㅅ ㅆ
illustration, access the external link below.) ㅋ is derived from ㄱ with a stroke for the burst of palatal ㅈ ㅊ ㅉ
aspiration.
coronal ㄷ ㅌ ㄸ
Sibilant consonants (fricative or palatal) (치음, 齒音 chieum "dental sounds"):
bilabial ㅂ ㅍ ㅃ
ㅅ s [s], ㅈ j [tɕ], ㅊ ch [tɕʰ]
Basic shape: ㅅ was originally shaped like a wedge ∧, without the serif on top. It represents a side view of the teeth. The line topping ㅈ
represents firm contact with the roof of the mouth. The stroke topping ㅊ represents an additional burst of aspiration.
Coronal consonants (설음, 舌音 seoreum "lingual sounds"):
ㄴ n [n], ㄷ d [t], ㅌ ṭ [tʰ], ㄹ r [ɾ, ɭ]

Basic shape: ㄴ is a side view of the tip of the tongue raised toward the alveolar ridge (gum ridge). The letters derived from ㄴ are
pronounced with the same basic articulation. The line topping ㄷ represents firm contact with the roof of the mouth. The middle stroke of ㅌ
represents the burst of aspiration. The top of ㄹ represents a flap of the tongue.
Bilabial consonants (순음, 唇音 suneum "labial sounds"):
ㅁ m [m], ㅂ b [p], ㅍ p̣ [pʰ]

Basic shape: ㅁ represents the outline of the lips in contact with each other. The top of ㅂ represents the release burst of the b. The top stroke
of ㅍ is for the burst of aspiration.
Dorsal consonants (후음, 喉音 hueum "throat sounds"):
ㅇ '/ng [ŋ], ㅎ h [h]

Basic shape: ㅇ is an outline of the throat. Originally ㅇ was two letters, a simple circle for silence (null consonant), and a circle topped by a
vertical line, ㆁ, for the nasal ng. A now obsolete letter, ㆆ, represented a glottal stop, which is pronounced in the throat and had closure
represented by the top line, like ㄱㄷㅈ. Derived from ㆆ is ㅎ, in which the extra stroke represents a burst of aspiration.
Vowel design
Vowel letters are based on three elements:
A horizontal line representing the flat Earth, the essence of yin.

A point for the Sun in the heavens, the essence of yang. (This becomes a
short stroke when written with a brush.)
A vertical line for the upright Human, the neutral mediator between the
Heaven and Earth.
Short strokes (dots in the earliest documents) were added to these three basic
elements to derive the vowel letter:
Simple vowels
Horizontal letters: these are mid-high back vowels.
bright ㅗ o
dark ㅜ u
dark ㅡ eu (ŭ) A diagram showing the derivation of vowels in the Korean alphabet.
Vertical letters: these were once low vowels.
bright ㅏ a
dark ㅓ eo (ŏ)
bright ㆍ
neutral ㅣ i
Compound vowels
The Korean alphabet does not have a letter for w sound. Since an o or u before an a or eo became a [w] sound, and [w] occurred nowhere else, [w]
could always be analyzed as a phonemic o or u, and no letter for [w] was needed. However, vowel harmony is observed: dark ㅜ u with dark ㅓ eo for
ㅝ wo; bright ㅗ o with bright ㅏ a for ㅘ wa:
ㅘ wa = ㅗ o + ㅏ a

ㅝ wo = ㅜ u + ㅓ eo
ㅙ wae = ㅗ o + ㅐ ae

ㅞ we = ㅜ u + ㅔ e
The compound vowels ending in ㅣ i were originally diphthongs. However, several have since evolved into pure vowels:
ㅐ ae = ㅏ a + ㅣ i (pronounced [ɛ])

ㅔ e = ㅓ eo + ㅣ i (pronounced [e])
ㅙ wae = ㅘ wa + ㅣ i
ㅚ oe = ㅗ o + ㅣ i (formerly pronounced [ø], see Korean phonology)
ㅞ we = ㅝ wo + ㅣ i
ㅟ wi = ㅜ u + ㅣ i (formerly pronounced [y], see Korean phonology)
ㅢ ui = ㅡ eu + ㅣ i
Iotized vowels
There is no letter for y. Instead, this sound is indicated by doubling the stroke attached to the baseline of the vowel letter. Of the seven basic vowels,
four could be preceded by a y sound, and these four were written as a dot next to a line. (Through the influence of Chinese calligraphy, the dots soon
became connected to the line: ㅓㅏㅜㅗ.) A preceding y sound, called iotization, was indicated by doubling this dot: ㅕㅑㅠㅛ yeo, ya, yu, yo. The three
vowels that could not be iotized were written with a single stroke: ㅡㆍㅣ eu, (arae a), i.
The simple iotized vowels are:

Simple Iotized
ㅑ ya from ㅏ a ㅏ ㅑ
ㅕ yeo from ㅓ eo ㅓ ㅕ
ㅛ yo from ㅗ o ㅗ ㅛ
ㅠ yu from ㅜ u ㅜ ㅠ
There are also two iotized diphthongs: ㅡ

ㅣ
ㅒ yae from ㅐ ae
ㅖ ye from ㅔ e
The Korean language of the 15th century had vowel harmony to a greater extent than it does today. Vowels in grammatical morphemes changed
according to their environment, falling into groups that "harmonized" with each other. This affected the morphology of the language, and Korean
phonology described it in terms of yin and yang: If a root word had yang ('bright') vowels, then most suffixes attached to it also had to have yang
vowels; conversely, if the root had yin ('dark') vowels, the suffixes had to be yin as well. There was a third harmonic group called mediating (neutral
in Western terminology) that could coexist with either yin or yang vowels.
The Korean neutral vowel was ㅣ i. The yin vowels were ㅡㅜㅓ eu, u, eo; the dots are in the yin directions of down and left. The yang vowels were ㆍ
ㅗㅏ ə, o, a, with the dots in the yang directions of up and right. The Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye states that the shapes of the non-dotted letters ㅡㆍ
ㅣ were chosen to represent the concepts of yin, yang, and mediation: Earth, Heaven, and Human. (The letter ㆍ ə is now obsolete except in the Jeju
language.)
The third parameter in designing the vowel letters was choosing ㅡ as the graphic base of ㅜ and ㅗ, and ㅣ as the graphic base of ㅓ and ㅏ. A full
understanding of what these horizontal and vertical groups had in common would require knowing the exact sound values these vowels had in the
15th century.
The uncertainty is primarily with the three letters ㆍㅓㅏ. Some linguists reconstruct these as *a, *ɤ, *e, respectively; others as *ə, *e, *a. A third
reconstruction is to make them all middle vowels as *ʌ, *ɤ, *a.[62] With the third reconstruction, Middle Korean vowels actually line up in a vowel
harmony pattern, albeit with only one front vowel and four middle vowels:
ㅣ *i ㅡ *ɯ ㅜ *u
ㅓ *ɤ
ㆍ *ʌ ㅗ *o
ㅏ *a
However, the horizontal letters ㅡㅜㅗ eu, u, o do all appear to have been mid to high back vowels, [*ɯ, *u, *o], and thus to have formed a coherent
group phonetically in every reconstruction.
Traditional account
The traditionally accepted account[j][63] on the design of the letters is that the vowels are derived from various combinations of the following three
components: ㆍ ㅡ ㅣ. Here, ㆍ symbolically stands for the (sun in) heaven, ㅡ stands for the (flat) earth, and ㅣ stands for an (upright) human. The
original sequence of the Korean vowels, as stated in Hunminjeongeum, listed these three vowels first, followed by various combinations. Thus, the
original order of the vowels was: ㆍ ㅡ ㅣ ㅗ ㅏ ㅜ ㅓ ㅛ ㅑ ㅠ ㅕ. Note that two positive vowels (ㅗ ㅏ) including one ㆍ are followed by two negative
vowels including one ㆍ, then by two positive vowels each including two of ㆍ, and then by two negative vowels each including two of ㆍ.
The same theory provides the most simple explanation of the shapes of the consonants as an approximation of the shapes of the most representative
organ needed to form that sound. The original order of the consonants in Hunminjeong'eum was: ㄱ ㅋ ㆁ ㄷ ㅌ ㄴ ㅂ ㅍ ㅁ ㅈ ㅊ ㅅ ㆆ ㅎ ㅇ ㄹ ㅿ.
1. ㄱ representing the [k] sound geometrically describes its tongue back raised.
2. ㅋ representing the [kʰ] sound is derived from ㄱ by adding another stroke.
3. ㆁ representing the [ŋ] sound may have been derived from ㅇ by addition of a stroke.
4. ㄷ representing the [t] sound is derived from ㄴ by adding a stroke.
5. ㅌ representing the [tʰ] sound is derived from ㄷ by adding another stroke.

6. ㄴ representing the [n] sound geometrically describes a tongue making contact with an upper palate.
7. ㅂ representing the [p] sound is derived from ㅁ by adding a stroke.
8. ㅍ representing the [pʰ] sound is a variant of ㅂ by adding another stroke.
9. ㅁ representing the [m] sound geometrically describes a closed mouth.
10. ㅈ representing the [t͡ ɕ] sound is derived from ㅅ by adding a stroke.
11. ㅊ representing the [t͡ ɕʰ] sound is derived from ㅈ by adding another stroke.
12. ㅅ representing the [s] sound geometrically describes the sharp teeth.
13. ㆆ representing the [ʔ] sound is derived from ㅇ by adding a stroke.
14. ㅎ representing the [h] sound is derived from ㆆ by adding another stroke.
15. ㅇ representing the absence of a consonant geometrically describes the throat.
16. ㄹ representing the [ɾ] and [ɭ] sounds geometrically describes the bending tongue.
17. ㅿ representing a weak ㅅ sound describes the sharp teeth, but has a different origin than ㅅ.
Ledyard's theory of consonant design
Although the Hunminjeong'eum Haerye explains the design of the consonantal letters in terms of articulatory
phonetics, as a purely innovative creation, several theories suggest which external sources may have inspired or
influenced King Sejong's creation. Professor Gari Ledyard of Columbia University studied possible connections
between Hangul and the Mongol 'Phags-pa script of the Yuan dynasty. He, however, also believed that the role of A close-up of the inscription on the
'Phags-pa script in the creation of the Korean alphabet was quite limited, stating it should not be assumed that statue of King Sejong above. It
Hangul was derived from 'Phags-pa script based on his theory: reads Sejong Daewang 세종대왕
and illustrates the forms of the
letters originally promulgated by
It should be clear to any reader that in the total picture, that ['Phags-pa script's] role was quite limited Sejong. Note the dots on the
... Nothing would disturb me more, after this study is published, than to discover in a work on the vowels, the geometric symmetry of s
history of writing a statement like the following: "According to recent investigations, the Korean and j in the first two syllables, the
alphabet was derived from the Mongol's phags-pa script."[64] asymmetrical lip at the top-left of the
d in the third, and the distinction
between initial and final ieung in the
Ledyard posits that five of the Korean letters have shapes inspired by 'Phags-pa; a sixth basic letter, the null initial last.
ㅇ, was invented by Sejong. The rest of the letters were derived internally from these six, essentially as described
in the Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye. However, the five borrowed consonants were not the graphically simplest
letters considered basic by the Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye, but instead the consonants basic to Chinese
phonology: ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅈ, and ㄹ.
The Hunmin Jeong-eum states that King Sejong adapted the 古篆 (gojeon, Gǔ Seal Script) in creating the Korean
alphabet. The 古篆 has never been identified. The primary meaning of 古 gǔ is old (Old Seal Script), frustrating
philologists because the Korean alphabet bears no functional similarity to Chinese 篆字 zhuànzì seal scripts.
However, Ledyard believes 古 gǔ may be a pun on 蒙古 Měnggǔ "Mongol," and that 古篆 is an abbreviation of
蒙古篆字 "Mongol Seal Script," that is, the formal variant of the 'Phags-pa alphabet written to look like the
Chinese seal script. There were 'Phags-pa manuscripts in the Korean palace library, including some in the seal-
script form, and several of Sejong's ministers knew the script well. If this was the case, Sejong's evasion on the
Mongol connection can be understood in light of Korea's relationship with Ming China after the fall of the Mongol
Yuan dynasty, and of the literati's contempt for the Mongols.
(Top) 'Phags-pa letters [k, t, p, s, l],
According to Ledyard, the five borrowed letters were graphically simplified, which allowed for consonant clusters and their supposed Korean
and left room to add a stroke to derive the aspirate plosives, ㅋㅌㅍㅊ. But in contrast to the traditional account, derivatives [k, t, p, t͡ ɕ, l]. Note the lip
the non-plosives (ㆁ ㄴ ㅁ ㅅ) were derived by removing the top of the basic letters. He points out that while it is on both 'Phags-pa [t] and the
easy to derive ㅁ from ㅂ by removing the top, it is not clear how to derive ㅂ from ㅁ in the traditional account, Korean alphabet ㄷ.
since the shape of ㅂ is not analogous to those of the other plosives. (Bottom) Derivation of 'Phags-pa w,
v, f from variants of the letter [h]
The explanation of the letter ng also differs from the traditional account. Many Chinese words began with ng, but (left) plus a subscript [w], and
by King Sejong's day, initial ng was either silent or pronounced [ŋ] in China, and was silent when these words analogous composition of the
were borrowed into Korean. Also, the expected shape of ng (the short vertical line left by removing the top stroke Korean alphabet w, v, f from
of ㄱ) would have looked almost identical to the vowel ㅣ [i]. Sejong's solution solved both problems: The vertical variants of the basic letter [p] plus a
stroke left from ㄱ was added to the null symbol ㅇ to create ㆁ (a circle with a vertical line on top), iconically circle.
capturing both the pronunciation [ŋ] in the middle or end of a word, and the usual silence at the beginning. (The
graphic distinction between null ㅇ and ng ㆁ was eventually lost.)
Another letter composed of two elements to represent two regional pronunciations was ㅱ, which transcribed the Chinese initial 微. This represented
either m or w in various Chinese dialects, and was composed of ㅁ [m] plus ㅇ (from 'Phags-pa [w]). In 'Phags-pa, a loop under a letter represented w
after vowels, and Ledyard hypothesized that this became the loop at the bottom of ㅱ. In 'Phags-pa the Chinese initial 微 is also transcribed as a
compound with w, but in its case the w is placed under an h. Actually, the Chinese consonant series 微非敷 w, v, f is transcribed in 'Phags-pa by the
addition of a w under three graphic variants of the letter for h, and the Korean alphabet parallels this convention by adding the w loop to the labial
series ㅁㅂㅍ m, b, p, producing now-obsolete ㅱㅸㆄ w, v, f. (Phonetic values in Korean are uncertain, as these consonants were only used to
transcribe Chinese.)
As a final piece of evidence, Ledyard notes that most of the borrowed Korean letters were simple geometric shapes, at least originally, but that ㄷ d [t]
always had a small lip protruding from the upper left corner, just as the 'Phags-pa d [t] did. This lip can be traced back to the Tibetan letter ད d.
ꡊ
There is also the argument that the original theory, which stated the Hangul consonants to have been derived from the shape of the speaker's lips and
tongue during the pronunciation of the consonants (initially, at least), slightly strains credulity.[65]
Hangul supremacy theory
Hangul supremacy or Hangul scientific supremacy is the claim that the Hangul alphabet is the simplest and most logical writing system in the
world.[66]
Proponents of the claim believe Hangul is the most scientific writing system because its characters are based on the shapes of the parts of the human
body used to enunciate. For example, the first alphabet, ㄱ, is shaped like the root of the tongue blocking the throat and makes a sound between /k/
and /g/ in English. They also believe that Hangul was designed to be simple to learn, containing only 28 characters in its alphabet with simplistic
rules.
Edwin O. Reischauer and John K. Fairbank of Harvard University wrote that "Hangul is perhaps the most
scientific system of writing in general use in any country."[67]
Former professor of Leiden University Frits Vos stated that King Sejong "invented the world's best alphabet,"
adding, "It is clear that the Korean alphabet is not only simple and logical, but has, moreover, been constructed in
a purely scientific way."[68]
Obsolete letters Harvard professor Edwin

Reischauer, a Japanologist,
Numerous obsolete Korean letters and sequences are no longer used in Korean. Some of these regarded Hangul as a highly logical
letters were only used to represent the sounds of Chinese rime tables. Some of the Korean system of writing.
sounds represented by these obsolete letters still exist in dialects.
Hankido [H.N-GI-
DO], a martial
art, using the
obsolete vowel
arae-a (top)
13 obsolete consonants ᄛ ㅱ ㅸ ᄼ ᄾ ㅿ
(IPA) South Korean: /z/

/l/, /ɾ/,
/ɱ/, /mʷ/ /β/, /bʷ/ /θ/ /ɕ/
/rʷ/ North Korean: /ɭ/
South Korean: z/z'/z

Middle Chinese lh hm v th x, sch, sz
North Korean: rr/
微(미) 非(비) 心(심) 審(심) South Korean: 子 /z/

Identified Chinese
Character (Hanzi) /ɱ/ /f/ /s/ /ɕ/ North Korean: 穰
Toneme falling mid to falling mid to falling mid mid to falling dipping/ mid
Remark
Standard Chinese P
Equivalents 子 z [tsɨ]; English: z i
or zebra; strong z in
English zip
10 obsolete double Hard consonants

consonants
ㅥ ᄙ ㅹ ᄽ ᄿ ᅇ ᇮ ᅏ
(IPA) /pʰ/, /ŋ̊ ʷ/ or /
/ɳ/ /l̥ /
/bʱ/
/z/ /ʑ/ ɣ/
/ŋ̊ / /d͡ z/
bh, hngw/gh
Middle Chinese hn/nn hl/ll sh zh hng dz, d
bhh or gr
娘(낭) 郞(랑) 邪(사) 禪(선) 從(종

Identified Chinese
Character (Hanzi) /ɳ/ /ɫ/ /z/ /ʑ/ /d͡ z/
una
Remark aspirated aspirated
voic
66 obsolete clusters of two consonants: ᇃ, ᄓ /ng/ (like English think), ㅦ /nd/ (as English Monday), ᄖ, ㅧ /ns/ (as English Pennsylvania), ㅨ, ᇉ
/tʰ/ (as ㅌ; nt in the language Esperanto), ᄗ /dg/ (similar to ㄲ; equivalent to the word 밖 in Korean), ᇋ /dr/ (like English in drive), ᄘ /ɭ/ (similar to
French Belle), ㅪ, ㅬ /lz/ (similar to English lisp but without the vowel), ᇘ, ㅭ /t͡ ɬ/ (tl or ll; as in Nahuatl), ᇚ /ṃ/ (mh or mg, mm in English hammer,
Middle Korean: pronounced as 목 mog with the ㄱ in the word almost silent), ᇛ, ㅮ, ㅯ (similar to ㅂ in Korean 없다), ㅰ, ᇠ, ᇡ, ㅲ, ᄟ, ㅳ bd
(assimilated later into ㄸ), ᇣ, ㅶ bj (assimilated later into ㅉ), ᄨ /bj/ (similar to 비추 in Korean verb 비추다 bit-chu-da but without the vowel), ㅷ,
ᄪ, ᇥ /ph/ (pha similar to Korean word 돌입하지 dol ip-haji), ㅺ sk (assimilated later into ㄲ; English: pick), ㅻ sn (assimilated later into nn in
English annal), ㅼ sd (initial position; assimilated later into ㄸ), ᄰ, ᄱ sm (assimilated later into nm), ㅽ sb (initial position; similar sound to ㅃ), ᄵ,
ㅾ assimilated later into ㅉ), ᄷ, ᄸ, ᄹ /θ/, ᄺ/ɸ/, ᄻ, ᅁ, ᅂ /ð/, ᅃ, ᅄ /v/, ᅅ (assimilated later into ㅿ; English z), ᅆ, ᅈ, ᅉ, ᅊ, ᅋ, ᇬ, ᇭ, ㆂ, ㆃ,
ᇯ, ᅍ, ᅒ, ᅓ, ᅖ, ᇵ, ᇶ, ᇷ, ᇸ
17 obsolete clusters of three consonants: ᇄ, ㅩ /rgs/ (similar to "rx" in English name Marx), ᇏ, ᇑ /lmg/ (similar to English Pullman), ᇒ, ㅫ, ᇔ,
ᇕ, ᇖ, ᇞ, ㅴ, ㅵ, ᄤ, ᄥ, ᄦ, ᄳ, ᄴ
Extremely soft vowel
1 obsolete vowel ㆍ
(IPA) /ʌ/
(also commonly found in the Jeju language: /ɒ/, closely similar to vowel:ㅓeo)
Letter name 아래아 (arae-a)
formerly the base vowel ㅡ eu in the early development of hangeul when it was considered vowelless, later development into different base
Remarks
vowels for clarification; acts also as a mark that indicates the consonant is pronounced on its own, e.g. s-va-ha → ᄉᆞᄫᅡ 하
Toneme low
44 obsolete diphthongs and vowel sequences: ᆜ (/j/ or /jɯ/ or /jɤ/, yeu or ehyu); closest similarity to ㅢ, when follow by ㄱ on initial position,
pronunciation does not produce any difference: ᄀᆜ /gj/),ᆝ (/jɒ/; closest similarity to ㅛ,ㅑ, ㅠ, ㅕ, when follow by ㄱ on initial position,
pronunciation does not produce any difference: ᄀᆝ /gj/), ᆢ(/j/; closest similarity to ㅢ, see former example inᆝ (/j/), ᅷ (/au̯ /; Icelandic Á, aw/ow in
English allow), ᅸ (/jau̯ /; yao or iao; Chinese diphthong iao), ᅹ, ᅺ, ᅻ, ᅼ, ᅽ /ōu/ (紬 ㅊᅽ, ch-ieou; like Chinese: chōu), ᅾ, ᅿ, ᆀ, ᆁ, ᆂ (/w/, wo
or wh, hw), ᆃ /ow/ (English window), ㆇ, ㆈ, ᆆ, ᆇ, ㆉ (/jø/; yue), ᆉ /wʌ/ or /oɐ/ (pronounced like u'a, in English suave), ᆊ, ᆋ, ᆌ, ᆍ (wu in
English would), ᆎ /juə/ or /yua/ (like Chinese: 元 yuán), ᆏ /ū/ (like Chinese: 軍 jūn), ᆐ, ㆊ /ué/ jujə (ɥe; like Chinese: 瘸 qué), ㆋ jujəj (ɥej; iyye),
ᆓ, ㆌ /jü/ or /juj/ (/jy/ or ɥi; yu.i; like German Jürgen), ᆕ, ᆖ (the same as ᆜ in pronunciation, since there is no distinction due to it extreme
similarity in pronunciation), ᆗ ɰju (ehyu or eyyu; like English news), ᆘ, ᆙ /ià/ (like Chinese: 墊 diàn), ᆚ, ᆛ, ᆟ, ᆠ (/ʔu/), ㆎ (ʌj; oi or oy, similar
to English boy).
In the original Korean alphabet system, double letters were used to represent Chinese voiced (濁音) consonants, which survive in the Shanghainese
slack consonants and were not used for Korean words. It was only later that a similar convention was used to represent the modern tense (faucalized)
consonants of Korean.
The sibilant (dental) consonants were modified to represent the two series of Chinese sibilants, alveolar and retroflex, a round vs. sharp distinction
(analogous to s vs sh) which was never made in Korean, and was even being lost from southern Chinese. The alveolar letters had longer left stems,
while retroflexes had longer right stems:
Tenuis
Aspirate
Voiced
Sonorant
5 Place of Articulation (오음, 五音) in Chinese Rime Table

전청 (全淸) 차청 (次淸) 전탁 (全濁) 차탁 (次濁)
ᅎ ᅔ ᅏ
치두음 (齒頭音)
精(정) /t͡ s/ 淸(청) /t͡ sʰ/ 從(종) /d͡ z/

"tooth-head"
ᄼ ᄽ
Sibilants
心(심) /s/ 邪(사) /z/
치음 (齒音)
ᅐ ᅕ ᅑ
정치음 (正齒音)
照(조) /t͡ ɕ/ 穿(천) /t͡ ɕʰ/ 牀(상) /d͡ ʑ/

"true front-tooth"
ᄾ ᄿ
審(심) /ɕ/ 禪(선) /ʑ/
ᅑ
Coronals
설상음 (舌上音)
ᅐ ᅕ ㄴ
설음 (舌音) "tongue up" 知(지) /ʈ/ 徹(철) /ʈʰ/ 澄(징) /ɖ/ 娘(낭) /ɳ/
Most common
ㆍ ə (in Modern Korean called arae-a 아래아 "lower a"): Presumably pronounced [ʌ], similar to modern ㅓ (eo). It is written as a dot, positioned
beneath the consonant. The arae-a is not entirely obsolete, as it can be found in various brand names, and in the Jeju language, where it is
pronounced [ɒ]. The ə formed a medial of its own, or was found in the diphthong ㆎ əy, written with the dot under the consonant and ㅣ (i) to its
right, in the same fashion as ㅚ or ㅢ.
ㅿ z (bansiot 반시옷 "half s", banchieum 반치음): An unusual sound, perhaps IPA [ʝ̃] (a nasalized palatal fricative). Modern Korean words
previously spelled with ㅿ substitute ㅅ or ㅇ.
ㆆ ʔ (yeorinhieut 여린히읗 "light hieut" or doenieung 된이응 "strong ieung"): A glottal stop, lighter than ㅎ and harsher than ㅇ.
ㆁ ŋ (yedieung 옛이응) “old ieung” : The original letter for [ŋ]; now conflated with ㅇ ieung. (With some computer fonts such as Arial Unicode MS,
yesieung is shown as a flattened version of ieung, but the correct form is with a long peak, longer than what one would see on a serif version of
ieung.)
ㅸ β (gabyeounbieup 가벼운비읍, sungyeongeumbieup 순경음비읍): IPA [f]. This letter appears to be a digraph of bieup and ieung, but it may be
more complicated than that—the circle appears to be only coincidentally similar to ieung. There were three other, less-common letters for sounds
in this section of the Chinese rime tables, ㅱ w ([w] or [m]), ㆄ f, and ㅹ ff [v̤ ]. It operates slightly like a following h in the Latin alphabet (one may
think of these letters as bh, mh, ph, and pph respectively). Koreans do not distinguish these sounds now, if they ever did, conflating the fricatives
with the corresponding plosives.
Restored letters
To make the Korean alphabet a better morphophonological fit to the Korean language, North Korea introduced six
new letters, which were published in the New Orthography for the Korean Language and used officially from
1948 to 1954.
Two obsolete letters were restored: ⟨ㅿ⟩ (리읃), which was used to indicate an alternation in pronunciation
between initial /l/ and final /d/;
and ⟨ㆆ⟩ (히으), which was only pronounced between vowels.
Two modifications of the letter ㄹ were introduced, one which is silent finally, and one which doubled between
vowels. A hybrid ㅂ-ㅜ letter was introduced for words that alternated between those two sounds (that is, a /b/,
which became /w/ before a vowel).
Finally, a vowel ⟨1⟩ was introduced for variable iotation.
The words 놉니다, 흘렀다, 깨달으

니, 지어, 고와, 왕, 가져서 written in
New Orthography.
Unicode
Hangul Jamo (U+1100–U+11FF) and Hangul Compatibility Jamo (U+3130–U+318F) blocks were added to the
Unicode Standard in June 1993 with the release of version 1.1. A separate Hangul Syllables block (not shown
below due to its length) contains pre-composed syllable block characters, which were first added at the same time,
although they were relocated to their present locations in July 1996 with the release of version 2.0.[69]
Hangul Jamo Extended-A (U+A960–U+A97F) and Hangul Jamo Extended-B (U+D7B0–U+D7FF) blocks were added
to the Unicode Standard in October 2009 with the release of version 5.2.
Hangul jamo characters in Unicode
Hangul Compatibility Jamo block in

Unicode
Hangul Jamo[1]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1100.pdf) (PDF)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+110x ᄀ ᄁ ᄂ ᄃ ᄄ ᄅ ᄆ ᄇ ᄈ ᄉ ᄊ ᄋ ᄌ ᄍ ᄎ ᄏ
U+111x ᄐ ᄑ ᄒ ᄓ ᄔ ᄕ ᄖ ᄗ ᄘ ᄙ ᄚ ᄛ ᄜ ᄝ ᄞ ᄟ
U+112x ᄠ ᄡ ᄢ ᄣ ᄤ ᄥ ᄦ ᄧ ᄨ ᄩ ᄪ ᄫ ᄬ ᄭ ᄮ ᄯ
U+113x ᄰ ᄱ ᄲ ᄳ ᄴ ᄵ ᄶ ᄷ ᄸ ᄹ ᄺ ᄻ ᄼ ᄽ ᄾ ᄿ
U+114x ᅀ ᅁ ᅂ ᅃ ᅄ ᅅ ᅆ ᅇ ᅈ ᅉ ᅊ ᅋ ᅌ ᅍ ᅎ ᅏ
HC
U+115x ᅐ ᅑ ᅒ ᅓ ᅔ ᅕ ᅖ ᅗ ᅘ ᅙ ᅚ ᅛ ᅜ ᅝ ᅞ F
HJ
U+116x
F
ᅡ ᅢ ᅣ ᅤ ᅥ ᅦ ᅧ ᅨ ᅩ ᅪ ᅫ ᅬ ᅭ ᅮ ᅯ
U+117x ᅰ ᅱ ᅲ ᅳ ᅴ ᅵ ᅶ ᅷ ᅸ ᅹ ᅺ ᅻ ᅼ ᅽ ᅾ ᅿ
U+118x ᆀ ᆁ ᆂ ᆃ ᆄ ᆅ ᆆ ᆇ ᆈ ᆉ ᆊ ᆋ ᆌ ᆍ ᆎ ᆏ
U+119x ᆐ ᆑ ᆒ ᆓ ᆔ ᆕ ᆖ ᆗ ᆘ ᆙ ᆚ ᆛ ᆜ ᆝ ᆞ ᆟ
U+11Ax ᆠ ᆡ ᆢ ᆣ ᆤ ᆥ ᆦ ᆧ ᆨ ᆩ ᆪ ᆫ ᆬ ᆭ ᆮ ᆯ
U+11Bx ᆰ ᆱ ᆲ ᆳ ᆴ ᆵ ᆶ ᆷ ᆸ ᆹ ᆺ ᆻ ᆼ ᆽ ᆾ ᆿ
U+11Cx ᇀ ᇁ ᇂ ᇃ ᇄ ᇅ ᇆ ᇇ ᇈ ᇉ ᇊ ᇋ ᇌ ᇍ ᇎ ᇏ
U+11Dx ᇐ ᇑ ᇒ ᇓ ᇔ ᇕ ᇖ ᇗ ᇘ ᇙ ᇚ ᇛ ᇜ ᇝ ᇞ ᇟ
U+11Ex ᇠ ᇡ ᇢ ᇣ ᇤ ᇥ ᇦ ᇧ ᇨ ᇩ ᇪ ᇫ ᇬ ᇭ ᇮ ᇯ
U+11Fx ᇰ ᇱ ᇲ ᇳ ᇴ ᇵ ᇶ ᇷ ᇸ ᇹ ᇺ ᇻ ᇼ ᇽ ᇾ ᇿ
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 15.0

2. ᄀ: Hangul jamo with a green background are modern-usage characters which can be converted into precomposed Hangul syllables under Unicode normalization form
NFC.
Hangul jamo with a white background are used for archaic Korean only, and there are no corresponding precomposed Hangul syllables.
"Conjoining Jamo Behavior" (https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode13.0.0/ch03.pdf#G24646) (PDF). The Unicode Standard. March 2020.
Hangul Jamo Extended-A[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UA960.pdf) (PDF)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+A96x ꥠ ꥡ ꥢ ꥣ ꥤ ꥥ ꥦ ꥧ ꥨ ꥩ ꥪ ꥫ ꥬ ꥭ ꥮ ꥯ
U+A97x ꥰ ꥱ ꥲ ꥳ ꥴ ꥵ ꥶ ꥷ ꥸ ꥹ ꥺ ꥻ ꥼ
Notes

2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
Hangul Jamo Extended-B[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UD7B0.pdf) (PDF)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+D7Bx ힰ ힱ ힲ ힳ ힴ ힵ ힶ ힷ ힸ ힹ ힺ ힻ ힼ ힽ ힾ ힿ
U+D7Cx ퟀ ퟁ ퟂ ퟃ ퟄ ퟅ ퟆ ퟋ ퟌ ퟍ ퟎ ퟏ
U+D7Dx ퟐ ퟑ ퟒ ퟓ ퟔ ퟕ ퟖ ퟗ ퟘ ퟙ ퟚ ퟛ ퟜ ퟝ ퟞ ퟟ
U+D7Ex ퟠ ퟡ ퟢ ퟣ ퟤ ퟥ ퟦ ퟧ ퟨ ퟩ ퟪ ퟫ ퟬ ퟭ ퟮ ퟯ
U+D7Fx ퟰ ퟱ ퟲ ퟳ ퟴ ퟵ ퟶ ퟷ ퟸ ퟹ ퟺ ퟻ
Notes

Hangul Compatibility Jamo[1][2]

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+313x ㄱ ㄲ ㄳ ㄴ ㄵ ㄶ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ
U+314x ㅀ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅄ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㅏ
U+315x ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ
U+316x ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ HF ㅥ ㅦ ㅧ ㅨ ㅩ ㅪ ㅫ ㅬ ㅭ ㅮ ㅯ
U+317x ㅰ ㅱ ㅲ ㅳ ㅴ ㅵ ㅶ ㅷ ㅸ ㅹ ㅺ ㅻ ㅼ ㅽ ㅾ ㅿ
U+318x ㆀ ㆁ ㆂ ㆃ ㆄ ㆅ ㆆ ㆇ ㆈ ㆉ ㆊ ㆋ ㆌ ㆍ ㆎ
Notes

Parenthesised (U+3200–U+321E) and circled (U+3260–U+327E) Hangul compatibility characters are in the
Enclosed CJK Letters and Months block:
Hangul subset of Enclosed CJK Letters and Months[1][2]

Enclosed Hangul characters in
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F Unicode
U+320x ㈀㈁㈂㈃㈄㈅㈆㈇㈈㈉㈊㈋㈌㈍㈎㈏
U+321x ㈐㈑㈒㈓㈔㈕㈖㈗㈘㈙㈚㈛㈜㈝㈞
... (U+3220–U+325F omitted)
U+326x ㉠㉡㉢㉣㉤㉥㉦㉧㉨㉩㉪㉫㉬㉭㉮㉯
U+327x ㉰㉱㉲㉳㉴㉵㉶㉷㉸㉹㉺㉻㉼㉽㉾
... (U+3280–U+32FF omitted)
Notes

2.^ Grey area indicates non-assigned code point
Half-width Hangul compatibility characters (U+FFA0–U+FFDC) are in the Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms block:
Hangul subset of Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UFF00.pdf) (PDF)

Halfwidth Hangul jamo characters in
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
Unicode
... (U+FF00–U+FF9F omitted)
HW
U+FFAx HF ﾡﾢﾣﾤﾥﾦﾧﾨﾩﾪﾫﾬﾭﾮﾯ
U+FFBx ﾰﾱﾲﾳﾴﾵﾶﾷﾸﾹﾺﾻﾼﾽﾾ
U+FFCx ￂￃￄￅￆￇￊￋￌￍￎￏ
U+FFDx ￒￓￔￕￖￗￚￛￜ
... (U+FFE0–U+FFEF omitted)
Notes

The Korean alphabet in other Unicode blocks:
Tone marks for Middle Korean[70][71][72] are in the CJK Symbols and Punctuation block: 〮 (U+302E), 〯 (U+302F)
11,172 precomposed syllables in the Korean alphabet make up the Hangul Syllables block (U+AC00–U+D7A3)
Morpho-syllabic blocks
Except for a few grammatical morphemes prior to the twentieth century, no letter stands alone to represent elements of the Korean language.
Instead, letters are grouped into syllabic or morphemic blocks of at least two and often three: a consonant or a doubled consonant called the initial
(초성, 初聲 choseong syllable onset), a vowel or diphthong called the medial (중성, 中聲 jungseong syllable nucleus), and, optionally, a consonant or
consonant cluster at the end of the syllable, called the final (종성, 終聲 jongseong syllable coda). When a syllable has no actual initial consonant, the
null initial ㅇ ieung is used as a placeholder. (In the modern Korean alphabet, placeholders are not used for the final position.) Thus, a block contains
a minimum of two letters, an initial and a medial. Although the Korean alphabet had historically been organized into syllables, in the modern
orthography it is first organized into morphemes, and only secondarily into syllables within those morphemes, with the exception that single-
consonant morphemes may not be written alone.
The sets of initial and final consonants are not the same. For instance, ㅇ ng only occurs in final position, while the doubled letters that can occur in
final position are limited to ㅆ ss and ㄲ kk.
Not including obsolete letters, 11,172 blocks are possible in the Korean alphabet.[73]
Letter placement within a block
The placement or stacking of letters in the block follows set patterns based on the shape of the medial.
Consonant and vowel sequences such as ㅄ bs, ㅝ wo, or obsolete ㅵ bsd, ㆋ üye are written left to right.
Vowels (medials) are written under the initial consonant, to the right, or wrap around the initial from bottom to right, depending on their shape: If
the vowel has a horizontal axis like ㅡ eu, then it is written under the initial; if it has a vertical axis like ㅣ i, then it is written to the right of the initial;
and if it combines both orientations, like ㅢ ui, then it wraps around the initial from the bottom to the right:
initial initial
initial medial med.
medial med. 1 2
A final consonant, if present, is always written at the bottom, under the vowel. This is called 받침 batchim "supporting floor":
initial initial med.
initial medial
medial med. 2
final final final
A complex final is written left to right:
initial initial med.
initial medial
medial med. 2
final 1 final 2 final 1 final 2 fin. 1 fin. 2
Blocks are always written in phonetic order, initial-medial-final. Therefore:
Syllables with a horizontal medial are written downward: 읍 eup;

Syllables with a vertical medial and simple final are written clockwise: 쌍 ssang;
Syllables with a wrapping medial switch direction (down-right-down): 된 doen;
Syllables with a complex final are written left to right at the bottom: 밟 balp.
Block shape
Normally the resulting block is written within a square. Some recent fonts (for example Eun,[74] HY깊은샘물M, UnJamo) move towards the
European practice of letters whose relative size is fixed, and use whitespace to fill letter positions not used in a particular block, and away from the
East Asian tradition of square block characters (方块字). They break one or more of the traditional rules:
Do not stretch initial consonant vertically, but leave white space below if no lower vowel and/or no final consonant.
Do not stretch right-hand vowel vertically, but leave white space below if no final consonant. (Often the right-hand vowel extends farther down
than the left-hand consonant, like a descender in European typography.)
Do not stretch final consonant horizontally, but leave white space to its left.
Do not stretch or pad each block to a fixed width, but allow kerning (variable width) where syllable blocks with no right-hand vowel and no double
final consonant can be narrower than blocks that do have a right-hand vowel or double final consonant.
These fonts have been used as design accents on signs or headings, rather than for typesetting large volumes of body text.
Linear Korean
There was a minor and unsuccessful movement in the early twentieth century to abolish
syllabic blocks and write the letters individually and in a row, in the fashion of writing
the Latin alphabets, instead of the standard convention of 모아쓰기 (moa-sseugi Computer Modern Unicode Oesol (https://github.com/Tzetachi/Co
'assembled writing'). For example, ㅎㅏㄴㄱㅡㄹ would be written for 한글 mputer-Modern-Unicode-Oesol), a linear Hangul font with both
(Hangeul).[75] It is called 풀어쓰기 (pureo-sseugi 'unassembled writing'). uppercase and lowercase characters, using the Unicode Private
Use Area. The text is a pangram that reads: "웬 초콜릿? 제가 원했
Avant-garde typographer Ahn Sang-soo created a font for the Hangul Dada exposition 던 건 뻥튀기 쬐끔과 의류예요." "얘야, 왜 또 불평?"
that disassembled the syllable blocks; but while it strings out the letters horizontally, it
retains the distinctive vertical position each letter would normally have within a block,
unlike the older linear writing proposals.[76]
Orthography
Until the 20th century, no official orthography of the Korean alphabet had been established. Due to liaison, heavy consonant assimilation, dialectal
variants and other reasons, a Korean word can potentially be spelled in multiple ways. Sejong seemed to prefer morphophonemic spelling
(representing the underlying root forms) rather than a phonemic one (representing the actual sounds). However, early in its history the Korean
alphabet was dominated by phonemic spelling. Over the centuries the orthography became partially morphophonemic, first in nouns and later in
verbs. The modern Korean alphabet is as morphophonemic as is practical. The difference between phonetic romanization, phonemic orthography
and morphophonemic orthography can be illustrated with the phrase motaneun sarami:
Phonetic transcription and translation:
motaneun sarami
[mo.tʰa.nɯn.sa.ɾa.mi]
a person who cannot do it
Phonemic transcription:
모타는사라미
/mo.tʰa.nɯn.sa.la.mi/
Morphophonemic transcription:
못하는사람이
|mot-ha-nɯn-sa.lam-i|
Morpheme-by-morpheme gloss:
못–하–는 사람=이
mot-ha-neun saram=i
cannot-do-[attributive] person=[subject]
After the Gabo Reform in 1894, the Joseon Dynasty and later the Korean Empire started to write all official documents in the Korean alphabet. Under
the government's management, proper usage of the Korean alphabet and Hanja, including orthography, was discussed, until the Korean Empire was
annexed by Japan in 1910.
The Government-General of Korea popularised a writing style that mixed Hanja and the Korean alphabet, and was used in the later Joseon dynasty.
The government revised the spelling rules in 1912, 1921 and 1930, to be relatively phonemic.
The Hangul Society, founded by Ju Si-gyeong, announced a proposal for a new, strongly morphophonemic orthography in 1933, which became the
prototype of the contemporary orthographies in both North and South Korea. After Korea was divided, the North and South revised orthographies
separately. The guiding text for orthography of the Korean alphabet is called Hangeul Matchumbeop, whose last South Korean revision was
published in 1988 by the Ministry of Education.
Mixed scripts
Since the Late Joseon dynasty period, various Hanja-Hangul mixed systems were used. In these systems, Hanja were used for lexical roots, and the
Korean alphabet for grammatical words and inflections, much as kanji and kana are used in Japanese. Hanja have been almost entirely phased out of
daily use in North Korea, and in South Korea they are mostly restricted to parenthetical glosses for proper names and for disambiguating homonyms.
Indo-Arabic numerals are mixed in with the Korean alphabet, e.g. 2007년 3월 22일 (22 March 2007).
Readability
Because of syllable clustering, words are shorter on the page than their linear counterparts would be, and the boundaries between syllables are easily
visible (which may aid reading, if segmenting words into syllables is more natural for the reader than dividing them into phonemes).[77] Because the
component parts of the syllable are relatively simple phonemic characters, the number of strokes per character on average is lower than in Chinese
characters. Unlike syllabaries, such as Japanese kana, or Chinese logographs, none of which encode the constituent phonemes within a syllable, the
graphic complexity of Korean syllabic blocks varies in direct proportion with the phonemic complexity of the syllable.[78] Like Japanese kana or
Chinese characters, and unlike linear alphabets such as those derived from Latin, Korean orthography allows the reader to utilize both the horizontal
and vertical visual fields.[79] Since Korean syllables are represented both as collections of phonemes and as unique-looking graphs, they may allow for
both visual and aural retrieval of words from the lexicon. Similar syllabic blocks, when written in small size, can be hard to distinguish from, and
therefore sometimes confused with, each other. Examples include 홋/훗/흣 (hot/hut/heut), 퀼/퀄 (kwil/kwol), 홍/흥 (hong/heung), and 핥/핣/핢
(halt/halp/halm).
Style
The Korean alphabet may be written either vertically or horizontally. The traditional direction is from top to bottom, right to
left. Horizontal writing is also used.[80]
In Hunmin Jeongeum, the Korean alphabet was printed in sans-serif angular lines of even thickness. This style is found in
books published before about 1900, and can be found in stone carvings (on statues, for example).[80]
Over the centuries, an ink-brush style of calligraphy developed, employing the same style of lines and angles as traditional Korean calligraphy. This
brush style is called gungche (궁체, 宮體 ), which means Palace Style because the style was mostly developed and used by the maidservants
(gungnyeo, 궁녀, 宮女) of the court in Joseon dynasty.
Modern styles that are more suited for printed media were developed in the 20th century. In 1993, new names for both Myeongjo (明朝) and Gothic
styles were introduced when Ministry of Culture initiated an effort to standardize typographic terms, and the names Batang (바탕, meaning
background) and Dotum (돋움, meaning "stand out") replaced Myeongjo and Gothic respectively. These names are also used in Microsoft Windows.
A sans-serif style with lines of equal width is popular with pencil and pen writing and is often the default typeface of Web browsers. A minor
advantage of this style is that it makes it easier to distinguish -eung from -ung even in small or untidy print, as the jongseong ieung (ㅇ) of such fonts
usually lacks a serif that could be mistaken for the short vertical line of the letter ㅜ (u).
See also
Language portal
Cyrillization of Korean (Kontsevich System)

Hangul consonant and vowel tables
Hangul orthography
Hangul supremacy
Korean Braille
Korean language and computers – methods to type the language
Korean manual alphabet
Korean mixed script
Korean phonology
Korean spelling alphabet
Myongjo
Romanization of Korean
McCune–Reischauer
Revised Romanization of Korean
Yale romanization of Korean
Notes
a. From Korean 한글, Korean pronunciation: [ha(ː)n.ɡɯl]. Hangul may also be written as Hangeul following South Korea's standard Romanization.
b. ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ
c. ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ
d. ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ
e. ㄳ ㄵ ㄶ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅄ
f. ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅢ
g. ㆍ
h. ㅿ ㆁ ㆆ
i. or not written
j. The explanation of the origin of the shapes of the letters is provided within a section of Hunminjeongeum itself, 훈민정음 해례본 제자해
(Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon Jajahae or Hunminjeongeum, Chapter: Paraphrases and Examples, Section: Making of Letters), which states: 牙
音ㄱ 象舌根閉喉之形. (아음(어금니 소리) ㄱ은 혀뿌리가 목구멍을 막는 모양을 본뜨고), 舌音ㄴ 象舌附上腭之形 ( 설음(혓 소리) ㄴ은 혀(끝)가 윗
잇몸에 붙는 모양을 본뜨고), 脣音ㅁ 象口形. ( 순음(입술소리) ㅁ은 입모양을 본뜨고), 齒音ㅅ 象齒形. ( 치음(잇 소리) ㅅ은 이빨 모양을 본뜨고)
象齒形. 喉音ㅇ. 象喉形 (목구멍 소리ㅇ은 목구멍의 꼴을 본뜬 것이다). ㅋ比ㄱ. 聲出稍 . 故加 . ㄴ而ㄷ. ㄷ而ㅌ. ㅁ而ㅂ. ㅂ而ㅍ. ㅅ而ㅈ. ㅈ而ㅊ. ㅇ
而ㅡ. ㅡ而ㅎ. 其因聲加之義皆同. 而唯　爲異 (ㅋ은ㄱ에 견주어 소리 남이 조금 세므로 획을 더한 것이고, ㄴ에서 ㄷ으로, ㄷ에서 ㅌ으로 함과, ㅁ
에서 ㅂ으로 ㅂ에서 ㅍ으로 함과, ㅅ에서 ㅈ으로 ㅈ에서 ㅊ으로 함과, ㅇ에서 ㅡ으로 ㅡ에서 ㅎ으로 함도, 그 소리를 따라 획을 더한 뜻이 같다 .
오직 ㅇ자는 다르다.) 半舌音ㄹ. 半齒音. 亦象舌齒之形而異其體. (반혓소리ㄹ과, 반잇소리 '세모자'는 또한 혀와 이의 꼴을 본뜨되, 그 본을 달리하
여 획을 더하는 뜻이 없다.) ...
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References
Chang, Suk-jin (1996). "Scripts and Sounds". Korean. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-55619-728-4. (Volume 4
of the London Oriental and African Language Library).
"Hangeul Matchumbeop" (http://www.korean.go.kr/search/grammar/rule/collect_rule.html). The Ministry of Education of South Korea. 1988.
Hannas, W[illia]m C. (1997). Asia's Orthographic Dilemma (https://books.google.com/books?id=aJfv8Iyd2m4C). University of Hawaiʻi Press.
ISBN 978-0-8248-1892-0.
Kim-Renaud, Young-Key, ed. (1997). The Korean Alphabet: Its History and Structure (https://books.google.com/books?id=nonRl2cerIgC).
University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1723-7.
Lee, Iksop; Ramsey, Samuel Robert (2000). The Korean Language (https://books.google.com/books?id=NN-yIdLOkCoC). SUNY Press.
ISBN 978-0-7914-9130-0.
McCune, G[eorge] M.; Reischauer, E[dwin] O. (1939). "The Romanization of the Korean Language: Based upon Its Phonetic Structure" (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20150712071618/http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/files/2011/07/ras-1939.pdf) (PDF). Transactions of the Korea Branch
of the Royal Asiatic Society. XXIX: 1–55. Archived from the original (http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/files/2011/07/ras-1939.pdf) (PDF) on
12 July 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
Sampson, Geoffrey (1990). Writing Systems (https://archive.org/details/writingsystems00geof). Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-
1756-4.
Silva, David J. (2002). "Western attitudes toward the Korean language: An Overview of Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century Mission
Literature" (https://rc.library.uta.edu/uta-ir/bitstream/handle/10106/11257/WesternAttitudesKoreanLanguage-Silva.pdf) (PDF). Korean Studies. 26
(2): 270–286. doi:10.1353/ks.2004.0013 (https://doi.org/10.1353%2Fks.2004.0013). hdl:10106/11257 (https://hdl.handle.net/10106%2F11257).
S2CID 55677193 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:55677193).
Sohn, Ho-Min (2001). The Korean Language (https://books.google.com/books?id=Sx6gdJIOcoQC). Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge
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Song, Jae Jung (2005). The Korean Language: Structure, Use and Context (https://books.google.com/books?id=3D36c9l_u0sC). Routledge.
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Taylor, Insup (1980). "The Korean writing system: An alphabet? A syllabary? A logography?". In Kolers, P.A.; Wrolstad, M. E.; Bouma, Herman
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099393).
External links
Korean alphabet and pronunciation (https://www.omniglot.com/writing/korean.htm) by Omniglot
Online Hangul tutorial (http://www.langintro.com/kintro/toc.htm) at Langintro.com
Hangul table with Audio Slideshow (https://web.archive.org/web/20090827124705/http://www.sayjack.com/learn/korean/hangul)
Technical information on Hangul and Unicode (http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/var/korean_hangul_unicode.html)
Hangul Sound Keyboard (http://www.kmaru.com/kboard/kboard.maru) at Kmaru.com
Learn Hangul (https://web.archive.org/web/20171018022208/http://www.koreanwikiproject.com/wiki/Learn_hangeul) at Korean Wiki Project
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1/17/23, 9:28 AM Hangul - Wikipedia

children's script, though there is no written evidence of this.[16] pronunciation: [ha(ː)n.ɡɯl]

Supporters of the Korean alphabet referred to it as jeong'eum (정음/ 正 音 ) meaning correct

Reforms and suppression under Japanese rule

Romanization g kk n d tt r m b pp s ss ' [i] j jj ch k t p h

Consonants in Standard Korean (orthography)[51]

Lax p (ㅂ) t (ㄷ) k (ㄱ)

Stop (plosive) Tense p͈ (ㅃ) t͈ (ㄸ) k͈ (ㄲ) The shape of tongue

Affricate Tense t͈͡ ɕ͈ (ㅉ)

Korean sonorants are voiced.

The shape of teeth

Assimilation: pronunciation of the combination bet

(k) (k) (n) (t) (l) (m)

ㄱ(g) k+k n+g t+g l+g m+g

ㄴ(n) ng+n n+n l+n m+n

ㄷ(d) k+d n+d t+t l+d m+d

ㄹ(r) g+n n+n l+l m+n

ㅁ(m) g+m n+m t+m l+m m+m

ㅎ(h) k kk+h n+h t m+h

죽 [t͡ ɕuk] – 'porridge'

ㅇ(∅) g+s n+j l+h l+g l+m l+b

The order from the Hunminjeongeum in 1446 was:[54]

North Korean order

The order of the final letters (받침) is:

(None means there is no final letter.)

South Korean order

The order of the final letters is:

Sort order of Hangul Sort order of Hangul

Name 기윽 니은 디읃 리을 미음 비읍 시읏 지읒 치읓 키읔 티읕 피읖 히읗 된기윽 된디읃 된비읍 된시읏 이응 된지읒

ㅋ (ḳieuk 키읔) ㅌ (ṭieut 티읕) ㅍ (p̣ieup 피읖) ㅎ (hieuh 히읗) ㅏ (a)

ㅐ (ae) ㅓ (eo) ㅔ (e) ㅗ (o) ㅜ (u)

Velar consonants (아음, 牙音 a'eum "molar sounds") Simple Aspirated Tense

ㄴ n [n], ㄷ d [t], ㅌ ṭ [tʰ], ㄹ r [ɾ, ɭ]

ㅁ m [m], ㅂ b [p], ㅍ p̣ [pʰ]

ㅇ '/ng [ŋ], ㅎ h [h]

Vowel letters are based on three elements:

A horizontal line representing the flat Earth, the essence of yin.

ㅘ wa = ㅗ o + ㅏ a

ㅙ wae = ㅗ o + ㅐ ae

ㅐ ae = ㅏ a + ㅣ i (pronounced [ɛ])

The simple iotized vowels are:

There are also two iotized diphthongs: ㅡ

5. ㅌ representing the [tʰ] sound is derived from ㄷ by adding another stroke.

Ledyard's theory of consonant design

Hangul supremacy theory

Obsolete letters Harvard professor Edwin

(IPA) South Korean: /z/

South Korean: z/z'/z

微(미) 非(비) 心(심) 審(심) South Korean: 子 /z/

10 obsolete double Hard consonants

娘(낭) 郞(랑) 邪(사) 禪(선) 從(종

Extremely soft vowel

Letter name 아래아 (arae-a)

5 Place of Articulation (오음, 五音) in Chinese Rime Table

精(정) /t͡ s/ 淸(청) /t͡ sʰ/ 從(종) /d͡ z/

照(조) /t͡ ɕ/ 穿(천) /t͡ ɕʰ/ 牀(상) /d͡ ʑ/

and ⟨ㆆ⟩ (히으), which was only pronounced between vowels.

Finally, a vowel ⟨1⟩ was introduced for variable iotation.

The words 놉니다, 흘렀다, 깨달으

Supporters of the Korean alphabet referred to it as jeong'eum (정음/ 正音 ) meaning correct