Hangul#South Korean order

File:Hangeul-basic.png

The Korean alphabet was originally named Hunminjeongeum ({{Korean|hangul=훈민정음|hanja=訓民正音|labels=no}}) by King Sejong the Great in 1443.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cha.go.kr/cop/bbs/selectBoardArticle.do?ctgryLrcls=CTGRY168&nttId=57977&bbsId=BBSMSTR_1205&mn=EN_03_03|title=Hunminjeongeum Manuscript|date=2006|website=Korean Cultural Heritage Administration|language=en|access-date=2017-12-02|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203224537/http://www.cha.go.kr/cop/bbs/selectBoardArticle.do?ctgryLrcls=CTGRY168&nttId=57977&bbsId=BBSMSTR_1205&mn=EN_03_03|archive-date=2017-12-03}} Hunminjeongeum is also the document that explained logic and science behind the script in 1446.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

The name {{transliteration|ko|rr|hangeul}} ({{lang|ko-kr|한글}}) was coined by Korean linguist Ju Si-gyeong in 1912. The name combines the ancient Korean word {{transliteration|ko|rr|han}} ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko-Hang|한}}), meaning great, and {{transliteration|ko|rr|geul}} ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko-Hang|글}}), meaning script. The word han is used to refer to Korea in general, so the name also means Korean script.{{sfn|Lee|Ramsey|2000|p=13}} It has been romanized in multiple ways:

• {{transliteration|ko|rr|Hangeul}} or {{transliteration|ko|rr|Han-geul}} in the Revised Romanization of Korean, which the South Korean government uses in English publications and encourages for all purposes.
• {{transliteration|ko|mr|Han'gŭl}} in the McCune–Reischauer system, is often capitalized and rendered without the diacritics when used as an English word, Hangul, as it appears in many English dictionaries.
• {{transliteration|ko|yaleko|Hān kul}} in the Yale romanization, a system recommended for technical linguistic studies.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

After the division of Korea, North Koreans call the alphabet {{transliteration|ko|mr|Chosŏn'gŭl}} ({{lang|ko-kp|조선글}}), after Chosŏn, the North Korean name for Korea.{{sfn|Kim-Renaud|1997|p=2}} A variant of the McCune–Reischauer system is used there for romanization.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Until the mid-20th century, the Korean elite preferred to write using Chinese characters called Hanja. They referred to Hanja as {{transliteration|ko|rr|jinseo}} ({{Korean|hangul=진서|hanja=眞書|labels=no}}) meaning true letters. Some accounts say the elite referred to the Korean alphabet derisively as {{transliteration|ko|rr|amkeul}} ({{Langx|ko|암클|label=none}}) meaning women's script, and {{transliteration|ko|rr|ahaetgeul}} ({{Langx|ko|아햇글|label=none}}) meaning children's script, though there is no written evidence of this.{{Cite web|url=http://www.korean.go.kr/eng_hangeul/another/001.html|title=Different Names for Hangeul|date=2008|website=National Institute of Korean Language|access-date=2017-12-03}}

Supporters of the Korean alphabet referred to it as {{transliteration|ko|rr|jeongeum}} ({{Korean|hangul=정음|hanja=正音|labels=no}}) meaning correct pronunciation, {{transliteration|ko|rr|gungmun}} ({{Korean|hangul=국문|hanja=國文|labels=no}}) meaning national script, and {{transliteration|ko|rr|eonmun}} ({{Korean|hangul=언문|hanja=諺文|labels=no}}) meaning vernacular script.

{{Main|Origin of Hangul}}

Koreans primarily wrote using Literary Chinese alongside native phonetic writing systems that predate Hangul by hundreds of years, including Idu script, Hyangchal, Gugyeol and Gakpil.{{sfn|Hannas|1997|p=57}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_CpZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA66|title=Multilingual Access and Services for Digital Collections|last=Chen|first=Jiangping|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781440839559|page=66|language=en|access-date=20 September 2016|date=2016-01-18}}{{cite book |date=1 January 2005 |title=Invest Korea Journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=00a2AAAAIAAJ |language=en|publisher=Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency|volume=23|access-date=20 September 2016|quote=They later devised three different systems for writing Korean with Chinese characters: Hyangchal, Gukyeol and Idu. These systems were similar to those developed later in Japan and were probably used as models by the Japanese.}}{{cite news|date=1 July 2000|title=Korea Now|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAlWAAAAYAAJ|language=en|newspaper=The Korea Herald|volume=29|access-date=20 September 2016}} However, much 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.korean.go.kr/eng_hangeul/setting/002.html|title=The Background of the invention of Hangeul|date=2008|website=National Institute of Korean Language|publisher=National Academy of the Korean Language|access-date=2017-12-03}} To promote literacy among the common people, the fourth king of the Joseon dynasty, Sejong the Great, personally created and promulgated a new alphabet.{{sfn|Kim-Renaud|1997|p=15}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54|title=Concise History of the Language Sciences: From the Sumerians to the Cognitivists

|last1=Koerner|first1=E. F. K.|last2=Asher|first2=R. E.|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=9781483297545|page=54|language=en|access-date=13 October 2016|date=2014-06-28

}} 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 Chŏng Inji's preface to the Hunminjeongeum Haerye emphasize that he invented it himself.{{cite web |title=Want to know about Hangeul? |url=https://www.korean.go.kr/eng_hangeul/setting/002.html |website=National Institute of Korean Language |access-date=25 May 2020}}

The project was completed sometime between December 1443 and January 1444, and described in a 1446 document titled Hunminjeongeum (The Proper Sounds for the Education of the People), after which the alphabet itself was originally named. 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.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Another document published in 1446 and titled Hunminjeongeum Haerye (Hunminjeongeum 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.{{Cite web |last=Kim |first=Man-Tae |date=2009-04-02 |title=A Study on the Principle of Character Combination and the Ideology of Science of I Ching in Hunminjeongeum: Focusing on the Principles of Yin-yang and Five Elements & the Principles of Three Components of the Universe |url=https://s-space.snu.ac.kr/bitstream/10371/79624/1/03.%20%EA%B9%80%EB%A7%8C%ED%83%9C.pdf |pages=39 |language=Ko}} After the creation of Hangul, people from the lower class or the commoners had a chance to be literate. They learned how to read and write Korean, not just the upper classes and literary elite. They learn Hangul independently without formal schooling or such.{{Cite web |date=2023-01-25 |title=History Of Hangul 101: A Fascinating Throwback - Ling App |url=https://ling-app.com/ko/history-of-hangul/ |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=ling-app.com |language=en-US}}

The Korean alphabet was designed so that people with little education could learn to read and write.{{Citation |last=Kim-Renaud |first=Young-Key |title=The Korean Alphabet: Its History and Structure |date=2021-05-25 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780824845278/html |work=The Korean Alphabet |access-date=2023-12-07 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |language=en |doi=10.1515/9780824845278 |isbn=978-0-8248-4527-8|url-access=subscription }} According to Hunminjeongeum Haerye, King Sejong expressed his intention to understand the language of the people in his country and to express their meanings more conveniently in writing. He noted that the shapes of the traditional Chinese characters, as well as factors such as the thickness, stroke count, and order of strokes in calligraphy, were extremely complex, making it difficult for people to recognize and understand them individually. 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."{{Cite web|title=한국고전원문자료관|url=https://kostma.aks.ac.kr/classic/gojunTextView.aspx?dataUCI=G002+CLA+KSM-WO.1446.0000-00000000.0002|access-date=3 November 2024|website=kostma.aks.ac.kr}}Hunminjeongeum Haerye, postface of Chŏng Inji, p. 27a, translation from Gari K. Ledyard, The Korean Language Reform of 1446, p. 258

The opening page of Hunminjeongeum Haerye and its printed form Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon contains King Sejong's foreword written in Literary Chinese, which reads:

File:Hunminjeongum.jpg}}, and that its sound is the initial of the Sino-Korean pronunciation of {{lang|lzh|君}} ({{Korean|hangul=군|rr=gun|mr=kun}}).]]

{{lang|lzh|國之語音。異乎中國。與文字不相流通。故愚民。有所欲言而終不得伸其情者。多矣。予。爲此憫然。新制二十八字。欲使人人易習。便於日用矣。}}{{efn|In this last line, some digital transcriptions including the one by the Academy of Korean Studies replaces {{lang|lzh|矣}} with {{lang|lzh|耳}}.}}

[Because] the spoken language of this country is different from that of China, it does not flow well with [Chinese] characters. Therefore, even if the ignorant want to communicate, many of them in the end cannot state their concerns. Saddened by this, I have [had] 28 letters newly made. It is my wish that all the people may easily learn these letters and that [they] be convenient for daily use.

File:Hunmin jeong-eum.jpg. The Hangul-only column, third from the left ({{Script/Korean|나랏말ᄊᆞ미}}), has pitch-accent diacritics to the left of the syllable blocks.]]

Another document titled Dongguk Jeongun was published on September 1446, which is a rhyme dictionary that sets out standard phonetics for the Sino-Korean pronunciations of Chinese characters.{{cite web|title=Standard Rhymes of the Eastern State|url=http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2999505|publisher=Korea JoongAng Daily|accessdate=21 April 2025}}{{Cite web |title=Dongguk jeongun (Standard Rhymes of the Eastern State), Volumes 1 and 6 |url=https://english.cha.go.kr/chaen/search/selectGeneralSearchDetail.do;jsessionid=p5DD4sQnPRg4n741TVqBhCjrLp4K8nLqfMD2nKAgVA4wEyK2nN6mX0OalIL4ZqkD.cha-was01_servlet_engine4?mn=EN_02_02&sCcebKdcd=11&ccebAsno=00710000&sCcebCtcd=11&pageIndex=8®ion=&canAsset=&ccebPcd1=&searchWrd=&startNum=&endNum=&stCcebAsdt=&enCcebAsdt=&canceled=&ccebKdcd=11&ccebCtcd= |access-date=21 April 2025 |website=Korea Heritage Service |publisher=Cultural Heritage Administration}}

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 road to break away from the Sinosphere as well as a threat to their status.{{cite book

| last = Lee

| first = Sang-baek

| year = 1957

| title = Hangul: The Origin of Korean Alphabet

| publisher = Tong-Mun Kwan

| location = Seoul

| id =

}}[http://www.de-han.org/desino/thoat/thoathan.htm 漢字文化圈的脫漢運動] However, the Korean alphabet entered popular culture as King Sejong had intended, used especially by women and writers of popular fiction.Pratt, Rutt, Hoare, 1999. Korea: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary. Routledge.

Prince Yeonsan banned the study and publication of the Korean alphabet in 1504 during his kingship, after a document criticizing him was published.{{cite web|publisher=National Academy of the Korean Language |title=4. The providing process of Hangeul |url=http://www.korean.go.kr/eng_hangeul/supply/001.html |date=January 2004|access-date=2008-05-19 }} Similarly, King Jungjong abolished the Ministry of Eonmun, a governmental institution related to Hangul research, in 1506.{{cite web|url=http://100.empas.com/dicsearch/pentry.html?s=K&i=254353&v=43 |title=Jeongeumcheong, synonymous with Eonmuncheong (정음청 正音廳, 동의어: 언문청)|publisher=Nate / Encyclopedia of Korean Culture|language=ko |access-date=2008-05-19 }}

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.{{cite web|url=http://enc.daum.net/dic100/viewContents.do?&m=all&articleID=b24h2804b |title=Korea Britannica article |language=ko|publisher=Enc.daum.net |access-date=2012-04-13}} However, the use of the Korean alphabet had gone without orthographical standardization for so long that spelling had become quite irregular.

File:Songganggasa15-2.jpg, printed in 1768]]

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.WorldCat, [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Sangoku+Ts%C5%ABran+Zusetsu&qt=results_page Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204210419/http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Sangoku+Ts%C5%ABran+Zusetsu&qt=results_page |date=4 February 2016 }}; alternate romaji [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Sankoku+Ts%C5%ABran+Zusetsu&qt=results_page Sankoku Tsūran Zusetsu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006200028/http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Sankoku+Ts%C5%ABran+Zusetsu&qt=results_page |date=6 October 2018 }} This book, which was published in 1785, described the Joseon KingdomCullen, Louis M. (2003). {{Google books|ycY_85OInSoC|A History of Japan, 1582–1941: Internal and External Worlds, p. 137.|page=137}} and the Korean alphabet.Vos, Ken. [http://www.rmv.nl/publicaties/11Koreavroeg/e/accidentalacquisitions.pdf "Accidental acquisitions: The nineteenth-century Korean collections in the National Museum of Ethnology, Part 1"], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622021232/http://www.rmv.nl/publicaties/11Koreavroeg/e/accidentalacquisitions.pdf |date=2012-06-22 }} p. 6 (pdf p. 7); Klaproth, Julius. (1832). {{Google books|lsoNAAAAIAAJ|San kokf tsou ran to sets, ou Aperçu général des trois royaumes, pp. 19 n1.|page=19}} In 1832, the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland supported the posthumous abridged publication of Titsingh's French translation.Klaproth, {{Google books|lsoNAAAAIAAJ| pp. 1–168.|page=1}}

Thanks to growing Korean nationalism, the Gabo Reformists' push, and Western missionaries' promotion of the Korean alphabet in schools and literature,{{cite journal | last = Silva | first = David J. | year = 2008 | title = Missionary Contributions toward the Revaluation of Han'geul in Late 19th Century Korea | journal = International Journal of the Sociology of Language | issue = 192 | pages = 57–74 | doi=10.1515/ijsl.2008.035| citeseerx = 10.1.1.527.8160 | s2cid = 43569773 }} the Hangul Korean alphabet was adopted in official documents for the first time in 1894. 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.{{cite web|url=http://korea.assembly.go.kr/history_html/history_07/mod_09.jsp |title=Korean History |publisher=Korea.assembly.go.kr |access-date=2012-04-13}}

{{See also|Korea 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.{{cite news

| last = Park

| first = Jung Hwan

| script-title=ko:한글, 고종황제 드높이고 주시경 지켜내다

| trans-title = Hangul, raise the status of Emperor Gojong and protect Ju Si-geong

| newspaper = news1

| date = 29 September 2019

| language = ko

| url = https://www.news1.kr/articles/?3731243

| access-date = 29 September 2019 }}

The orthography of the Korean alphabet was partially standardized in 1912, when the vowel arae-a ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}}) — was restricted to Sino-Korean roots: the emphatic consonants were standardized to {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅺ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅼ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅽ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅆ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅾ}}, and final consonants restricted to {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄹ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄺ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄻ}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄼ}}. Long vowels were marked by a diacritic dot to the left of the syllable, but this was dropped in 1921.

A second colonial reform occurred in 1930. The arae-a was abolished: the emphatic consonants were changed to {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄲ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄸ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅃ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅆ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅉ}}, and more final consonants {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅊ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅍ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄲ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄳ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄵ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄾ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄿ}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅄ}} were allowed, making the orthography more morphophonemic. The double consonant {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅆ}} was written alone (without a vowel) when it occurred between nouns, and the nominative particle {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|가}} was introduced after vowels, replacing {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|이}}.

The arae-a, in any case, began to be merged with other vowels starting from the 15^th century and the merging process was mostly complete by the 16^th century.{{sfn|Son|2008|p=17}} In the 21^st century it only survives in the Jeju language which is mutually unintelligible with mainland South Korean varieties.{{sfn|Stonham|2011|p=97}}

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 the Standardized System of Hangul in 1933. The principal change was to make the Korean alphabet as morphophonemically practical as possible given the existing letters. A system for transliterating foreign orthographies was published in 1940.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Japan banned the Korean language from schools and public offices in 1938 and excluded Korean courses from elementary education in 1941 as part of a policy of cultural assimilation and genocide.{{cite web|url=https://100.daum.net/encyclopedia/view/b24h2804b012 |publisher=Daum / Britannica |title=Hangul 한글 |work=The modern and contemporary history of Hangul (한글의 근·현대사)|date=26 June 2002 |quote=1937년 7월 중일전쟁을 도발한 일본은 한민족 말살정책을 노골적으로 드러내, 1938년 4월에는 조선어과 폐지와 조선어 금지 및 일본어 상용을 강요했다.|language=ko|access-date=2008-05-19 }}{{cite journal|last=LEE|first=Hyong Cheol|date=2016-12-28|title=植民地支配下の朝鮮語|trans-title=Korean Language under the rule of Japanese Colony|url=https://irdb.nii.ac.jp/00850/0000787965|language=ja|journal=Journal of the Faculty of Global and Media Studies|volume=1|issue=University of Nagasaki|pages=7–19|access-date=2022-08-17}}

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.

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.

Beginning in the 1970s, Hanja began to experience a gradual decline in commercial or unofficial writing in the South due to government intervention, chiefly with President Park Chung Hee's 5 Year Plan for Hangul Exclusivity ({{Korean|hangul=한글전용 5개년 계획안|hanja=한글專用 5個年 計劃案|rr=hangeuljeonyong ogaenyeon gyehoegan}}),{{Cite web|last=|first=|date= |script-title=ko:문자 생활과 한글 |url=https://www.korean.go.kr/nkview/nklife/1996_2/1996_0205.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325081213/https://www.korean.go.kr/nkview/nklife/1996_2/1996_0205.pdf |archive-date=Mar 25, 2023 |access-date=|website=}} 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 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.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QP8nDwAAQBAJ&q=sino-korean+words&pg=PA4|title=Modern Korean Grammar: A Practical Guide|last=Byon|first=Andrew Sangpil|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2017|isbn=978-1351741293|pages=3–18}}

A high proficiency in Hanja is also useful for understanding the etymology of Sino-Korean words as well as for enlarging one's Korean vocabulary.

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.{{cite journal |last=Miyake |first=Marc Hideo |title=Review of Asia's Orthographic Dilemma |journal=Korean Studies |date=1998 |volume=22 |pages=114–121 |jstor=23719388 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23719388 |issn=0145-840X}}

Systems that employed Hangul letters with modified rules were attempted by linguists such as {{ill|Hsu Tsao-te|zh|許曹德}} 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 of Taiwan.{{cite journal |last=洪惟仁 |date=2010 |title=閩南語書寫法的理想與現實 |trans-title=Idealism vs. Reality: Writing Systems for Taiwanese Southern Min |url=http://www.twlls.org.tw/jtll/documents/5.1-5.pdf |language=zh |journal=臺灣語文研究 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=89, 101–105 |archive-date=8 March 2017 |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308190715/http://www.twlls.org.tw/jtll/documents/5.1-5.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |author1=楊允言 |author2=張學謙 |author3=呂美親 |date=2008 |title=台語文運動訪談暨史料彙編 |trans-title=Compilation of Historical Materials and Interviews on the Written Taiwanese Movement |url=http://ip194097.ntcu.edu.tw/memory/tgb/thak.asp?id=321 |language=zh |location=Taiwan |publisher=國史館 |isbn=9789860132946 |pages=284–285 |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-date=26 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926161110/http://ip194097.ntcu.edu.tw/memory/TGB/thak.asp?id=321 |url-status=dead }}{{citation|title=「台灣閩南語槪論」講授資料彙編|author=Dong Zhongsi (董忠司)|publisher=Taiwan Languages and Literature Society}}

The Hunminjeong'eum Society in Seoul attempted to spread the use of Hangul to unwritten languages of Asia.{{cite news |title=Linguistics Scholar Seeks to Globalize Korean Alphabet |newspaper=The Korea Times |date=2008-10-15 |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2009/07/178_32754.html}} In 2009, it was unofficially adopted by the town of Baubau, in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, to write the Cia-Cia language.{{cite news |last=Choe |first=Sang-Hun |date=11 September 2009 |title=South Korea's Latest Export - Its Alphabet |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/world/asia/12script.html |work=The New York Times}}{{cite news |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/10/113_74114.html |title=Hangeul didn't become Cia Cia's official writing |newspaper=The Korea Times |date=2010-10-06}}[http://www.france24.com/en/20090806-indonesian-tribe-use-korean-alphabet-scholar Indonesian tribe to use Korean alphabet] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090812024714/http://www.france24.com/en/20090806-indonesian-tribe-use-korean-alphabet-scholar |date=August 12, 2009 }}{{cite news|last=Si-soo|first=Park|title=Indonesian Tribe Picks Hangeul as Writing System|url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/08/117_49729.html|newspaper=The Korea Times|date=2009-08-06}}

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.{{cite news|title= Indonesian Tribe Learns to Write with Korean Alphabet|author= Kurt Achin|newspaper= Voice of America|date= 29 January 2010|url= https://www.voanews.com/a/indonesian-tribe-learns-to-write-with-korean-alphabet-83029477/165326.html|access-date= 29 January 2010|archive-date= 17 January 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120117004601/http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Indonesian-Tribe-Learns-to-Write-with-Korean-Alphabet-83029477.html|url-status= live}}

{{See also|Hangul consonant and vowel tables}}

File:Hangeul letter order.svg

Letters in the Korean alphabet are called {{transliteration|ko|rr|jamo}} ({{Korean|자모|hanja=字母|labels=no}}). There are 14 consonants ({{Korean|자음|hanja=子音|labels=no}}) and 10 vowels ({{Korean|모음|hanja=母音|labels=no}}) used in the modern alphabet. They were first named in {{ill|Hunmongjahoe|ko|훈몽자회}}, a Hanja textbook written by Choe Sejin. Additionally, there are 27 complex letters that are formed by combining the basic letters: 5 tense consonant letters, 11 complex consonant letters, and 11 complex vowel letters.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

In typography design and in IME automata, the letters that make up a block are called {{transliteration|ko|rr|jaso}} ({{Korean|자소|hanja=字素|labels=no}}).

File:Pronounciation ㄱ.png|upright=0.6|The shape of tongue when pronouncing ㄱ (g, k)

File:Pronounciation ㄴ.png|upright=0.6|The shape of tongue when pronouncing ㄴ (n)

File:Pronounciation ㅅ.png|upright=0.6|The shape of teeth and tongue when pronouncing ㅅ (s)

File:Pronounciation ㅇ.png|upright=0.6|ㅇ (ng) is similar to the throat hole.

File:Pronounciation ㅁ.jpg|upright=0.6|ㅁ (m) is similar to a closed mouth.

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).

{{Korean|ㅇ|labels=no}} is silent syllable-initially and is used as a placeholder when the syllable starts with a vowel. {{Korean|ㄸ|labels=no}}, {{Korean|ㅃ|labels=no}}, and {{Korean|ㅉ|labels=no}} are never used syllable-finally.

The consonants are broadly categorized into two categories:

• obstruents: sounds produced when airflow either completely stops (i.e., a plosive consonant) or passes through a narrow opening (i.e., a fricative).
• sonorants: sounds produced when air flows out with little to no obstruction through the mouth, nose, or both.{{Cite book|last=Kim-Renaud, Young-Key.|title=Korean : an essential grammar|date=2009|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-38513-8|location=London|oclc=245598979}}

The chart below lists the Korean consonants by their respective categories and subcategories.

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 cords while heavily aspirated consonants (such as the Korean {{Korean|ㅍ|labels=no}}, {{IPA|/pʰ/}}) are produced by opening them.

Korean sonorants are voiced.

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).

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;{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} the largest inventory features ten, while some scholars{{who |date=November 2020 }} 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). Actual phonological studies done by studying formant data show that current speakers of Standard Korean do not differentiate between the vowels {{Korean|ㅔ|labels=no}} and {{Korean|ㅐ|labels=no}} in pronunciation.{{Cite web|date=March 28, 2017|script-title=ko:한글 맞춤법[시행 2017. 3. 28.] 문화체육관광부 고시 제2017-12호(2017. 3. 28.)|trans-title=Hangul Spelling [Enforcement 2017. 3. 28.] Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Notice No. 2017-12 (2017. 3. 28.)|url=https://kornorms.korean.go.kr//regltn/regltnView.do#a//|access-date=April 5, 2021|website=ko: 국립국어원, (The National Institute of the Korean Language)|archive-date=6 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306145246/https://kornorms.korean.go.kr/regltn/regltnView.do#a//|url-status=dead}}

Alphabetic order in the Korean alphabet is called the ganada order ({{lang|ko|가나다순|nocat=yes}}), 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.{{Cite web|date=2020-05-25|title=A Quick Guide to Hangul, the Korean Alphabet – Pronunciation and Rules|url=https://www.mondly.com/blog/2020/05/25/hangul-korean-alphabet-pronunciation/|access-date=2021-09-17|website=Mondly Blog|language=en-US}}

The collation order of Korean in Unicode is based on the South Korean order.

The order from the Hunminjeongeum in 1446 was:{{Cite web|title=The Hunmin Chongum Manuscript {{!}} United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization|url=http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-8/the-hunmin-chongum-manuscript/|access-date=2021-09-17|website=www.unesco.org}}

:{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ ㄲ ㅋ ㆁ ㄷ ㄸ ㅌ ㄴ ㅥ ㅂ ㅃ ㅍ ㅁ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅅ ㅆ ㆆ ㅎ ㆅ ㅇ ㄹ ㅿ}}

:{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ ㅡ ㅣ ㅗ ㅏ ㅜ ㅓ ㅛ ㅑ ㅠ ㅕ}}

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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} (null) and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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.{{Cite web|date=2018-05-01|title=Korean Language in North and South Korea: The Differences|url=https://www.daytranslations.com/blog/korean-languages/|access-date=2021-09-17|website=Day Translations Blog|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|date=2020-03-16|title=The Korean Language: The Key Differences Between North and South|url=https://legal-translations.com.au/korean-language-key-differences-north-south/|access-date=2021-09-17|website=Legal Translations|language=en-US}}

The double letters are placed after all the single letters (except the null initial {{lang|ko|ㅇ|nocat=yes}}, which goes at the end).

: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ ㅇ}}

: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅚ ㅟ ㅢ ㅘ ㅝ ㅙ ㅞ}}

All digraphs and trigraphs, including the old diphthongs {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅐ}} and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅔ}}, are placed after the simple vowels, again maintaining Choe's alphabetic order.

The order of the final letters ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|받침}}) is:

:(none) {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} is pronounced, as the nasal {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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.{{Cite web|date=2018-05-01|title=Korean Language in North and South Korea: The Differences|url=https://www.daytranslations.com/blog/korean-languages/|access-date=2021-09-17|website=Day Translations Blog|language=en-US}}

In the Southern order, double letters are placed immediately after their single counterparts:

: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ}}

: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ}}

The modern monophthongal vowels come first, with the derived forms interspersed according to their form: i is added first, then iotated, then iotated with added i. Diphthongs beginning with w are ordered according to their spelling, as {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} or {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} plus a second vowel, not as separate digraphs.

The order of the final letters is:

: (none) {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}} = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|다}}). Some syllables such as {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|달}} and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|닭}} have a final consonant or final consonant cluster ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|받침}}). Thus, 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.

The sort order including archaic Hangul letters defined in the South Korean national standard KS X 1026-1 is:{{Cite web|date=2008|title=An introduction to Korean Standard KS X 1026-1:2007, Hangul processing guide for information interchange |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2008/08225-n3422.pdf |access-date=17 Sep 2021 |publisher=Unicode Consortium}}

• 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

Hangul consonant sort order.svg|Sort order of Hangul consonants defined in the South Korean national standard KS X 1026-1

Hangul vowel sort order.svg|Sort order of Hangul vowels defined in the South Korean national standard KS X 1026-1

{{More citations needed section|date=November 2021}}

{{Listen

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}}

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 {{lang|ko|윽}} euk, {{lang|ko|읃}} eut, and {{lang|ko|읏}} eut did not occur in Hanja, Choe gave those letters the modified names {{lang|ko|기역}} giyeok, {{lang|ko|디귿}} digeut, and {{lang|ko|시옷}} siot, using Hanja that did not fit the pattern (for 기역) or native Korean syllables (for 디귿 and 시옷).{{Cite web|title=Letter Names (Hangul 한글) {{!}} Taekwondo Preschool|url=https://www.taekwondopreschool.com/hangul-letternames.html|access-date=2021-09-17|website=www.taekwondopreschool.com}}

Originally, Choe gave {{lang|ko|ㅈ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅊ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅋ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅌ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅍ}}, and {{lang|ko|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.

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 {{lang|ko|된}} toen meaning hard.

In North Korea, an alternative way to refer to a consonant is letter + ŭ ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}}), for example, gŭ ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|그}}) for the letter {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}}, and ssŭ ({{lang|ko|쓰|nocat=yes}}) for the letter {{lang|ko|ㅆ|nocat=yes}}.

As in South Korea, the names of vowels in the Korean alphabet are the same as the sound of each vowel.

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 {{lang|ko|쌍}} ssang meaning double.

Letters in the Korean alphabet have adopted certain rules of Chinese calligraphy, although {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎ}} use a circle, which is not used in printed Chinese characters.{{Cite web|title=Korean Alphabet|url=https://thinkzone.wlonk.com/Language/Korean.htm|access-date=2021-09-17|website=thinkzone.wlonk.com}}{{Cite web|title=Korean alphabet, pronunciation and language|url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/korean.htm|access-date=2021-09-17|website=www.omniglot.com}}

File:ㄱ (giyeok) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㄱ|nocat=yes}} (giyeok {{lang|ko|기역|nocat=yes}})

File:ㄴ stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㄴ|nocat=yes}} (nieun {{lang|ko|니은|nocat=yes}})

File:ㄷ (digeut) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㄷ|nocat=yes}} (digeut {{lang|ko|디귿|nocat=yes}})

File:ㄹ (rieul) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㄹ|nocat=yes}} (rieul {{lang|ko|리을|nocat=yes}})

File:ㅁ (mieum) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅁ|nocat=yes}} (mieum {{lang|ko|미음|nocat=yes}})

File:ㅂ (bieup) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅂ|nocat=yes}} (bieup {{lang|ko|비읍|nocat=yes}})

File:ㅅ (siot) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅅ|nocat=yes}} (siot {{lang|ko|시옷|nocat=yes}})

File:ㅇ (ieung) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅇ|nocat=yes}} (ieung {{lang|ko|이응|nocat=yes}})

File:ㅈ (jieut) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅈ|nocat=yes}} (jieut {{lang|ko|지읒|nocat=yes}})

File:ㅊ (chieut) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅊ|nocat=yes}} (chieut {{lang|ko|치읓|nocat=yes}})

File:ㅋ (kieuk) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅋ|nocat=yes}} (ḳieuk {{lang|ko|키읔|nocat=yes}})

File:ㅌ (tieut) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅌ|nocat=yes}} (ṭieut {{lang|ko|티읕|nocat=yes}})

File:ㅍ (pieup) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅍ|nocat=yes}} (p̣ieup {{lang|ko|피읖|nocat=yes}})

File:ㅎ (hieut) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅎ|nocat=yes}} (hieut {{lang|ko|히읗|nocat=yes}})

File:ㅏ (a) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅏ|nocat=yes}} (a)

File:ㅐ (ae) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅐ|nocat=yes}} (ae)

File:ㅓ (eo) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅓ|nocat=yes}} (eo)

File:ㅔ (e) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅔ|nocat=yes}} (e)

File:ㅗ (o) stroke order-2.png|{{lang|ko|ㅗ|nocat=yes}} (o)

File:ㅜ (u) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅜ|nocat=yes}} (u)

File:一 (eu) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅡ|nocat=yes}} (eu)

File:ㅣ (i) stroke order.png|{{lang|ko|ㅣ|nocat=yes}} (i)

For the iotated vowels, which are not shown, the short stroke is simply doubled.

{{Calligraphy}}

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 iotation (a preceding i-sound), harmonic class and i-mutation for vowels.

For instance, the consonant {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} ṭ {{IPA|[tʰ]}} is composed of three strokes, each one meaningful: the top stroke indicates {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} is a plosive, like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆆ}} ʔ, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} g, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} d, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}} j, which have the same stroke (the last is an affricate, a plosive–fricative sequence); the middle stroke indicates that {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} is aspirated, like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎ}} h, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅋ}} ḳ, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅊ}} ch, which also have this stroke; and the bottom stroke indicates that {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} is alveolar, like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}} n, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} d, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄹ}} l. (It is said to represent the shape of the tongue when pronouncing coronal consonants, though this is not certain.) Two obsolete consonants, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}} and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅱ}}, have dual pronunciations, and appear to be composed of two elements corresponding to these two pronunciations: {{IPA|[ŋ]}}~silence for {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}} and {{IPA|[m]}}~{{IPA|[w]}} for {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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 iotated; this stroke is then doubled when the vowel is iotated. 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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅐ}} {{IPA|[ɛ]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅚ}} {{IPA|[ø]}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅟ}} {{IPA|[y]}} from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}} {{IPA|[a]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} {{IPA|[o]}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} {{IPA|[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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} {{IPA|[i]}}. Indeed, in many Korean dialects,{{Citation needed|date=July 2007}} including the standard dialect of Seoul, some of these may still be diphthongs. For example, in the Seoul dialect, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅚ}} may alternatively be pronounced {{IPA|[we̞]}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅟ}} {{IPA|[ɥi]}}. ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅔ}} {{IPA|[e]}} as a morpheme is ㅓ combined with ㅣ as a vertical stroke. As a phoneme, its sound is not by i mutation of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} {{IPA|[ʌ]}}.)

Besides the letters, the Korean alphabet originally employed diacritic marks to indicate pitch accent. A syllable with a high pitch ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|거성}}) was marked with a dot (〮) to the left of it (when writing vertically); a syllable with a rising pitch ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7PTXPq_nSAC&pg=PA127|title=The Languages of Japan and Korea|last=Kim-Renaud|first=Young-Key|publisher=Routledge|year=2012|isbn=9780415462877|editor-last=Tranter|editor-first=Nicolas|location=Oxon, UK|pages=127}} and is no longer written.

{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2021}}

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 ({{Korean|hangul=아음|hanja=牙音|rr=aeum|labels=no|lit='molar sounds'}})
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} g {{IPA|[k]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅋ}} ḳ {{IPA|[kʰ]}}
• Basic shape: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} is a side view of the back of the tongue raised toward the velum (soft palate). (For illustration, access the external link below.) {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅋ}} is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} with a stroke for the burst of aspiration.
• Sibilant consonants (fricative or palatal) ({{Korean|hangul=치음|hanja=齒音|rr=chieum|labels=no|lit='dental sounds'}}):
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} s {{IPA|[s]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}} j {{IPA|[tɕ]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅊ}} ch {{IPA|[tɕʰ]}}
• Basic shape: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} was originally shaped like a wedge (∧), without the serif on top. It represents a side view of the teeth.{{Citation needed|date=September 2020}} The line topping {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}} represents firm contact with the roof of the mouth. The stroke topping {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅊ}} represents an additional burst of aspiration.
• Coronal consonants ({{Korean|hangul=설음|hanja=舌音|rr=seoreum|labels=no|lit='lingual sounds'}}):
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}} n {{IPA|[n]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} d {{IPA|[t]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} ṭ {{IPA|[tʰ]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄹ}} r {{IPA|[ɾ, ɭ]}}
• Basic shape: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}} is a side view of the tip of the tongue raised toward the alveolar ridge (gum ridge). The letters derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}} are pronounced with the same basic articulation. The line topping {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} represents firm contact with the roof of the mouth. The middle stroke of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} represents the burst of aspiration. The top of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄹ}} represents a flap of the tongue.
• Bilabial consonants ({{Korean|hangul=순음|hanja=唇音|rr=suneum|labels=no|lit='labial sounds'}}):
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} m {{IPA|[m]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} b {{IPA|[p]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅍ}} p̣ {{IPA|[pʰ]}}
• Basic shape: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} represents the outline of the lips in contact with each other. The top of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} represents the release burst of the b. The top stroke of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅍ}} is for the burst of aspiration.
• Dorsal consonants ({{Korean|hangul=후음|hanja=喉音|rr=hueum|labels=no|lit='throat sounds'}}):
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} '/ng {{IPA|[ŋ]}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎ}} h {{IPA|[h]}}
• Basic shape: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} is an outline of the throat. Originally {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} was two letters, a simple circle for silence (null consonant), and a circle topped by a vertical line, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}}, for the nasal ng. A now obsolete letter, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆆ}}, represented a glottal stop, which is pronounced in the throat and had closure represented by the top line, like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱㄷㅈ}}. Derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆆ}} is {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎ}}, in which the extra stroke represents a burst of aspiration.

{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2021}}

{{see also|Vowel harmony#Korean}}

File:Hangul Vowel Diag.svg

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:

• Horizontal letters: these are mid-high back vowels.
• bright {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} o
• dark {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} u
• dark {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}} eu (ŭ)
• Vertical letters: these were once low vowels.
• bright {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}} a
• dark {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} eo (ŏ)
• bright {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}}
• neutral {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} i

The Korean alphabet does not have a letter for w sound. Since an o or u before an a or eo became a {{IPA|[w]}} sound, and {{IPA|[w]}} occurred nowhere else, {{IPA|[w]}} could always be analyzed as a phonemic o or u, and no letter for {{IPA|[w]}} was needed. However, vowel harmony is observed: dark {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} u with dark {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} eo for {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅝ}} wo; bright {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} o with bright {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}} a for {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅘ}} wa:

• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅘ}} wa = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} o + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}} a
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅝ}} wo = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} u + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} eo
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅙ}} wae = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} o + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅐ}} ae
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅞ}} we = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} u + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅔ}} e

The compound vowels ending in {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} i were originally diphthongs. However, several have since evolved into pure vowels:

• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅐ}} ae = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}} a + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} i (pronounced {{IPA|[ɛ]}})
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅔ}} e = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} eo + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} i (pronounced {{IPA|[e]}})
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅙ}} wae = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅘ}} wa + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} i
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅚ}} oe = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}} o + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} i (formerly pronounced {{IPA|[ø]}}, see Korean phonology)
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅞ}} we = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅝ}} wo + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} i
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅟ}} wi = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} u + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} i (formerly pronounced {{IPA|[y]}}, see Korean phonology)
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅢ}} ui = {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}} eu + {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} i

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: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓㅏㅜㅗ}}.) A preceding y sound, called iotation, was indicated by doubling this dot: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅕㅑㅠㅛ}} yeo, ya, yu, yo. The three vowels that could not be iotated were written with a single stroke: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} eu, (arae a), i.

The simple iotated vowels are:

• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅑ}} ya from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅏ}}  a
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅕ}} yeo from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}}  eo
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅛ}} yo from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}}  o
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅠ}} yu from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}}  u

There are also two iotated diphthongs:

• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅒ}} yae from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅐ}}  ae
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅖ}} ye from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} i. The yin vowels were {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} eu, u, eo; the dots are in the yin directions of down and left. The yang vowels were {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍㅗㅏ}} 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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} were chosen to represent the concepts of yin, yang, and mediation: Earth, Heaven, and Human. (The letter {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}} ə is now obsolete except in the Jeju language.)

The third parameter in designing the vowel letters was choosing {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}} as the graphic base of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} as the graphic base of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅓ}} and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍㅓㅏ}}. Some linguists reconstruct these as {{IPA|*a}}, {{IPA|*ɤ}}, and {{IPA|*e}}, respectively; others as {{IPA|*ə}}, {{IPA|*e}}, and {{IPA|*a}}. A third reconstruction is to make them all middle vowels as {{IPA|*ʌ}}, {{IPA|*ɤ}}, and {{IPA|*a}}.[http://conf.ling.cornell.edu/whitman/FrellWhitman.pdf The Japanese/Korean Vowel Correspondences] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102073449/http://conf.ling.cornell.edu/whitman/FrellWhitman.pdf |date=2 January 2018 }} by Bjarke Frellesvig and John Whitman. Section 3 deals with Middle Korean vowels. With the third reconstruction, Middle Korean vowels line up in a vowel harmony pattern, but with only one front vowel and four middle vowels:

However, the horizontal letters {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡㅜㅗ}} eu, u, o do all appear to have been mid to high back vowels, {{IPA|[*ɯ, *u, *o]}}, and thus to have formed a coherent group phonetically in every reconstruction.

The traditionally accepted account{{efn|The explanation of the origin of the shapes of the letters is provided within a section of Hunminjeongeum itself, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|훈민정음 해례본 제자해}} (Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon Jajahae or Hunminjeongeum, Chapter: Paraphrases and Examples, Section: Making of Letters), which states: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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, ㅁ에서 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 달리하여 획을 더하는 뜻이 없다.}}) ...}}[http://blog.paran.com/blog/detail/postBoard.kth?pmcId=sookoeun2145&blogDataId=26450475 Korean orthography rules] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718173123/http://blog.paran.com/blog/detail/postBoard.kth?pmcId=sookoeun2145&blogDataId=26450475 |date=2011-07-18 }}{{Unreliable source?|date=January 2009 }} on the design of the letters is that the vowels are derived from various combinations of the following three components: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ ㅡ ㅣ}}. Here, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}} symbolically stands for the (sun in) heaven, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}} stands for the (flat) earth, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ ㅡ ㅣ ㅗ ㅏ ㅜ ㅓ ㅛ ㅑ ㅠ ㅕ}}. Two positive vowels ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅗ ㅏ}}) including one {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}} are followed by two negative vowels including one {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}}, then by two positive vowels each including two of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}}, and then by two negative vowels each including two of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ ㅋ ㆁ ㄷ ㅌ ㄴ ㅂ ㅍ ㅁ ㅈ ㅊ ㅅ ㆆ ㅎ ㅇ ㄹ ㅿ}}.

1. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} representing the {{IPA|[k]}} sound geometrically describes its tongue back raised.
2. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅋ}} representing the {{IPA|[kʰ]}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} by adding another stroke.
3. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}} representing the {{IPA|[ŋ]}} sound may have been derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} by addition of a stroke.
4. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} representing the {{IPA|[t]}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}} by adding a stroke.
5. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅌ}} representing the {{IPA|[tʰ]}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} by adding another stroke.
6. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄴ}} representing the {{IPA|[n]}} sound geometrically describes a tongue making contact with an upper palate.
7. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} representing the {{IPA|[p]}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} by adding a stroke.
8. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅍ}} representing the {{IPA|[pʰ]}} sound is a variant of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} by adding another stroke.
9. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} representing the {{IPA|[m]}} sound geometrically describes a closed mouth.
10. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}} representing the {{IPA|[t͡ɕ]}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} by adding a stroke.
11. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅊ}} representing the {{IPA|[t͡ɕʰ]}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}} by adding another stroke.
12. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} representing the {{IPA|[s]}} sound geometrically describes the sharp teeth.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}
13. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆆ}} representing the {{IPA|[ʔ]}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} by adding a stroke.
14. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎ}} representing the {{IPA|[h]}} sound is derived from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆆ}} by adding another stroke.
15. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} representing the absence of a consonant geometrically describes the throat.
16. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄹ}} representing the {{IPA|[ɾ]}} and {{IPA|[ɭ]}} sounds geometrically describes the bending tongue.
17. {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅿ}} representing a weak {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} sound describes the sharp teeth, but has a different origin than {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}}.{{clarify|date=May 2013}}

{{More citations needed|section|date=June 2020}}

File:King Sejong statue inscription.jpg

[[File:Phagspa-Hangul comparison.svg|thumb|

(Top) 'Phags-pa letters {{IPA|[k, t, p, s, l]|cat=no}}, and their supposed Korean derivatives {{IPA|[k, t, p, t͡ɕ, l]}}. Note the lip on both 'Phags-pa {{IPA|[t]}} and the Korean alphabet {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}}.

(Bottom) Derivation of 'Phags-pa w, v, f from variants of the letter {{IPA|[h]}} (left) plus a subscript {{IPA|[w]}}, and analogous composition of the Korean alphabet w, v, f from variants of the basic letter {{IPA|[p]}} plus a circle.]]

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 'Phags-pa script in the creation of the Korean alphabet was quite limited, stating it should not be assumed that Hangul was derived from 'Phags-pa script based on his theory:

{{blockquote|It should be clear to any reader that in the total picture, that ['Phags-pa script's] role was quite limited ... Nothing would disturb me more, after this study is published, than to discover in a work on the history of writing a statement like the following: "According to recent investigations, the Korean alphabet was derived from the Mongol's phags-pa script."The Korean language reform of 1446: the origin, background, and Early History of the Korean Alphabet, Gari Keith Ledyard. University of California, 1966, p. 367–368.}}

Ledyard posits that five of the Korean letters have shapes inspired by 'Phags-pa; a sixth basic letter, the null initial {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}}, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅈ}}, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄹ}}.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

The Hunmin Jeong-eum states that King Sejong adapted the {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|古篆}} (gojeon, Gǔ Seal Script) in creating the Korean alphabet. The {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|古篆}} has never been identified. The primary meaning of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|古}} gǔ is old (Old Seal Script), frustrating philologists because the Korean alphabet bears no functional similarity to Chinese {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|篆字}} zhuànzì seal scripts. However, Ledyard believes {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|古}} gǔ may be a pun on {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|蒙古}} Měnggǔ "Mongol", and that {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|古篆}} is an abbreviation of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

According to Ledyard, the five borrowed letters were graphically simplified, which allowed for consonant clusters and left room to add a stroke to derive the aspirate plosives, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅋㅌㅍㅊ}}. But in contrast to the traditional account, the non-plosives ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ ㄴ ㅁ ㅅ}}) were derived by removing the top of the basic letters. He points out that while it is easy to derive {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} by removing the top, it is not clear how to derive {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} in the traditional account, since the shape of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅂ}} is not analogous to those of the other plosives.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

The explanation of the letter ng also differs from the traditional account. Many Chinese words began with ng, but by King Sejong's day, initial ng was either silent or pronounced {{IPA|[ŋ]}} in China, and was silent when these words were borrowed into Korean. Also, the expected shape of ng (the short vertical line left by removing the top stroke of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}}) would have looked almost identical to the vowel {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} {{IPA|[i]}}. Sejong's solution solved both problems: The vertical stroke left from {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄱ}} was added to the null symbol {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} to create {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}} (a circle with a vertical line on top), iconically capturing both the pronunciation {{IPA|[ŋ]}} in the middle or end of a word, and the usual silence at the beginning. (The graphic distinction between null {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} and ng {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}} was eventually lost.)

Another letter composed of two elements to represent two regional pronunciations was {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅱ}}, which transcribed the Chinese initial {{lang|zh|微}}. This represented either m or w in various Chinese dialects, and was composed of {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁ}} [m] plus {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅱ}}. In 'Phags-pa the Chinese initial {{lang|zh|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 {{lang|zh|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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅁㅂㅍ}} m, b, p, producing now-obsolete {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄷ}} d [t] always had a small lip protruding from the upper left corner, just as the 'Phags-pa {{Phagspa|v|ꡊ|da}} d [t] did. This lip can be traced back to the Tibetan letter {{bo-textonly|ད}} d.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

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.Peter T. Daniels and William Bright, The World's Writing Systems (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 219–220

{{main|Historical Chinese phonology}}

{{Multiple issues|section=yes|

{{Disputed section|date=December 2022}}

{{Original research|date=December 2022}}

{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2020}}

}}

File:Hankidoemhanja.png [_H.N-GI-DO], a martial art, using the obsolete vowel arae-a (top)|alt=|left|180x180px]]

Numerous obsolete Korean letters and sequences are no longer used in Korean. Some of these letters were only used to represent the sounds of Chinese rime tables. Some of the Korean sounds represented by these obsolete letters still exist in dialects.

• 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 tall zebra), ᇘ, ㅭ /t͡ɬ/ (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

• 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 ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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:

• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆍ}} ə (in Modern Korean called arae-a {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|아래아}} "lower a"): Presumably pronounced {{IPAblink|ʌ}}, similar to modern {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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 {{IPAblink|ɒ}}. The ə formed a medial of its own, or was found in the diphthong {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆎ}} əy, written with the dot under the consonant and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} (i) to its right, in the same fashion as {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅚ}} or {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅢ}}.
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅿ}} z (bansiot {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|반시옷}} "half s", banchieum {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|반치음}}): An unusual sound, perhaps IPA {{IPA|[ʝ̃]}} (a nasalized palatal fricative). Modern Korean words previously spelled with {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅿ}} substitute {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅅ}} or {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}}.
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆆ}} ʔ (yeorinhieut {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|여린히읗}} "light hieut" or doenieung {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|된이응}} "strong ieung"): A glottal stop, lighter than {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎ}} and harsher than {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}}.
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆁ}} ŋ (yedieung {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|옛이응}}) "old ieung" : The original letter for {{IPA|[ŋ]}}; now conflated with {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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.)
• {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅸ}} β (gabyeounbieup {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|가벼운비읍}}, sungyeongeumbieup {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|순경음비읍}}): IPA {{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, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅱ}} w ({{IPA|[w]}} or {{IPA|[m]}}), {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㆄ}} f, and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅹ}} ff {{IPA|[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.

File:NOoK-example.png

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.{{Cite book|title=Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts|last1=Fishman|first1=Joshua|last2=Garcia|first2=Ofelia|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2011|isbn=|volume=2|location=|pages=156–158}}

Two obsolete letters were restored: {{angle bracket|{{lang|ko|ㅿ}}}} ({{lang|ko|리읃}}), which was used to indicate an alternation in pronunciation between the initial {{IPA|/l/}} and final {{IPA|/d/}}; and {{angle bracket|{{lang|ko|ㆆ}}}} ({{lang|ko|히으}}), which was only pronounced between vowels.

Two modifications of the letter {{lang|ko|ㄹ}} were introduced, one which was silent finally, and one which doubled between vowels. A hybrid {{lang|ko|ㅂ-ㅜ}} letter was introduced for words that alternated between those two sounds (that is, a {{IPA|/b/}}, which became {{IPA|/w/}} before a vowel).

Finally, a vowel {{angle bracket|{{lang|ko|1}}}} was introduced for variable iotation.

:{{note|Alpha1}}{{note|Alpha2|α}} Silence

:{{note|Beta|β}} Makes the following consonant tense, as a final ㅅ does

:{{note|Gamma|γ}} In standard orthography, combines with a following vowel as ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅚ, ㅝ, ㅞ, ㅟ

:{{note|Delta|δ}} In standard orthography, combines with a following vowel as ㅑ, ㅒ, ㅕ, ㅖ, ㅛ, ㅠ

{{Clear}}

{{See also|List of Hangul jamo}}

{{Main|Hangul Syllables|Hangul Jamo (Unicode block)|Hangul Jamo Extended-A|Hangul Jamo Extended-B|Hangul Compatibility Jamo|Enclosed CJK Letters and Months|Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms (Unicode block)}}

File:Hangul jamo characters in Unicode.svg

File:Hangul Compatibility Jamo block in Unicode.svg

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.{{Ref RFC|2279|section=3. Versions of the standards}}

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.

{{Unicode chart Hangul Jamo}}

{{Unicode chart Hangul Jamo Extended-A}}

{{Unicode chart Hangul Jamo Extended-B}}

{{Unicode chart Hangul Compatibility Jamo}}

File:Enclosed hangul characters in Unicode.svg

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

{{Unicode chart Enclosed CJK Letters and Months|subset=hangul}}

File:Halfwidth hangul jamo characters in Unicode.svg

Half-width Hangul compatibility characters (U+FFA0–U+FFDC) are in the Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms block:

{{Unicode chart Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms|subset=hangul}}

The Korean alphabet in other Unicode blocks:

• Tone marks for Middle Korean{{cite book|author=Ho-Min Sohn|title=The Korean Language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sx6gdJIOcoQC&pg=PA48|date=29 March 2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-36943-5|pages=48–}}{{cite book|author1=Iksop Lee|author2=S. Robert Ramsey|title=The Korean Language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVgr2BkwAdkC&pg=PA315|year=2000|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-4832-8|pages=315–}}{{cite book|author1=Ki-Moon Lee|author2=S. Robert Ramsey|title=A History of the Korean Language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AmspKX3beoC&pg=PA168|date=3 March 2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49448-9|pages=168–}} 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)

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 ({{Korean|hangul=초성|hanja=初聲|rr=choseong|labels=no}} syllable onset), a vowel or diphthong called the medial ({{Korean|hangul=중성|hanja=中聲|rr=jungseong|labels=no}} syllable nucleus), and, optionally, a consonant or consonant cluster at the end of the syllable, called the final ({{Korean|hangul=종성|hanja=終聲|rr=jongseong|labels=no}} syllable coda). When a syllable has no actual initial consonant, the null initial {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}} ng only occurs in final position, while the doubled letters that can occur in final position are limited to {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅆ}} ss and {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㄲ}} kk.

Not including obsolete letters, 11,172 blocks are possible in the Korean alphabet.{{Cite journal|last=Park|first=ChangHo|editor4-first=Ping|editor4-last=Li|editor3-first=Youngjin|editor3-last=Kim|editor2-first=Greg B|editor2-last=Simpson|editor1-first=Chungmin|editor1-last=Lee|date=2009|title=Visual processing of Hangul, the Korean script|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6UyCgAAQBAJ|journal=The Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics|volume=III|pages=379–389|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511596865.030|isbn=9780511596865|via=Google Books|url-access=subscription}}

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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅄ}} bs, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅝ}} wo, or obsolete {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅵ}} bsd, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅡ}} eu, then it is written under the initial; if it has a vertical axis like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅣ}} i, then it is written to the right of the initial; and if it combines both orientations, like {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅢ}} ui, then it wraps around the initial from the bottom to the right:

{{col-begin|width=auto}}

{{col-break}}

{{col-break|gap=1em}}

{{col-break|gap=1em}}

{{col-end}}

A final consonant, if present, is always written at the bottom, under the vowel. This is called {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|받침}} batchim "supporting floor":

{{col-begin|width=auto}}

{{col-break}}

{{col-break|gap=1em}}

{{col-break|gap=1em}}

{{col-end}}

A complex final is written left to right:

{{col-begin|width=auto}}

{{col-break}}

{{col-break|gap=1em}}

{{col-break|gap=1em}}

{{col-end}}

Blocks are always written in phonetic order, initial-medial-final. Therefore:

• Syllables with a horizontal medial are written downward: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|읍}} {{Transliteration|ko|eup}};
• Syllables with a vertical medial and simple final are written clockwise: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|쌍}} {{Transliteration|ko|ssang}};
• Syllables with a wrapping medial switch direction (down-right-down): {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|된}} {{Transliteration|ko|doen}};
• Syllables with a complex final are written left to right at the bottom: {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|밟}} {{Transliteration|ko|balp}}.

Normally the resulting block is written within a square. Some recent fonts (for example Eun,{{cite web|url=http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Korean.html|title=Korean Unicode Fonts|first=Craig|last=Welch|website=www.wazu.jp}} {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|HY깊은샘물M}},{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} and UnJamo{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}) 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 ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|方块字}}). They break one or more of the traditional rules:{{Clarify|reason=Is what follows the traditional rules or the modified versions used in Korean?|date=June 2024}}

• Do not stretch the initial consonant vertically, but leave whitespace below if no lower vowel or no final consonant.
• Do not stretch right-hand vowel vertically, but leave whitespace 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 the final consonant horizontally, but leave whitespace 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.

In Korean, typefaces that do not have a fixed block boundary size are called {{Langx|ko|탈네모 글꼴|label=none}} ({{Transliteration|ko|tallemo geulkkol}}, 'out of square typeface'). If horizontal text in the typeface ends up looking top-aligned with a ragged bottom edge, the typeface can be called {{Langx|ko|빨랫줄 글꼴|label=none}} ({{Transliteration|ko|ppallaetjul geulkkol}}, 'clothesline typeface').{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

These fonts have been used as design accents on signs or headings, rather than for typesetting large volumes of body text.

{{Expand Korean|풀어쓰기|section=yes|date=September 2020}}

File:Oesol.png

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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|모아쓰기}} ({{Transliteration|ko|moa-sseugi}} 'assembled writing'). For example, {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅎㅏㄴㄱㅡㄹ}} would be written for {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|한글}} (Hangeul).{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vj8ShHzUxrYC&pg=PA162 |title=Korea: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary – Keith L. Pratt, Richard Rutt, James Hoare – Google Boeken |date=1999-09-13 |access-date=2012-04-13|isbn=9780700704637 |last1=Pratt |first1=Keith L. |last2=Rutt |first2=Richard |publisher=Psychology Press }} It is called 풀어쓰기 (pureo-sseugi 'unassembled writing').

Avant-garde typographer Ahn Sang-soo created a font for the Hangul Dada exposition 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.{{cite web|last=Ezer |first=Oded |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/oded_ezer/317881477/ |title=Hangul Dada, Seoul, Korea|publisher=Flickr |access-date=2012-04-13|date=2006-12-09 }}

{{More citations needed|section|date=February 2025}}

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:

{{unordered list

|1= Phonetic transcription and translation:

{{block indent|motaneun sarami

{{IPA|[mo.tʰa.nɯn.sa.ɾa.mi]}}

a person who cannot do it}}

|2= Phonemic transcription:

{{block indent|{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|모타는사라미}}

{{IPA|/mo.tʰa.nɯn.sa.la.mi/}}}}

|3= Morphophonemic transcription:

{{block indent|{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|못하는사람이}}

{{IPA|{{!}}mot-ha-nɯn-sa.lam-i{{!}}}}}}

|4= Morpheme-by-morpheme gloss:

{{block indent|1=

{{(!}}

{{!-}}

{{!}}     {{!!}}{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|못–하–는}}{{!!}}{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|사람{{=}}이}}

{{!-}}

{{!}}  {{!!}}mot-ha-neun{{!!}}saram=i

{{!-}}

{{!}}  {{!!}}cannot-do-{{bracket|attributive}}{{!!}}person=[subject]

{{!)}}}}

}}

After the Gabo Reform in 1894, Joseon 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 with {{ill|Orthographic Rules for Vernacular Writing for Normal Schools|kr|보통학교용 언문철자법}} (普通學校用諺文綴字法), 1921 with Summary of Orthographic Rules for Vernacular Writing for Normal Schools (普通學校用諺文綴字法大要), and again in 1930 with Orthographic Rules for Vernacular Writing (諺文綴字法), to be relatively phonemic.{{cite journal|last=Choi |first=Yong-gi |url=https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/articleDetail?nodeId=NODE00689259|title=The Korean language policy in the period of Japan's colonial rule of Korea|journal=동악어문학 |access-date=2025-02-24|date=2006|volume=46 |pages=9–32 }}

The Hangul Society, founded by Ju Si-gyeong, announced a proposal for a new, strongly morphophonemic orthography in 1933, titled {{ill|Proposal for a Unified Hangul Orthography|kr|한글 맞춤법 통일안}} (한글 맞춤법 통일안),{{cite web |url=https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0061514|title=한글맞춤법통일안 (한글맞춤法統一案)|access-date=2025-02-24}} which became the prototype of the contemporary orthographies in both North and South Korea.{{how|date=February 2025}} After Korea was divided, the North and South revised orthographies separately. The guiding text for orthography of the Korean alphabet is called Hangeul Matchumbeop (Spelling System of Hangul/The Rules of Korean Spelling), whose last South Korean enactment was published in 1988 by the Ministry of Education and whose last revision was published in 2017 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.{{cite web |url=https://www.law.go.kr/%ED%96%89%EC%A0%95%EA%B7%9C%EC%B9%99/%ED%95%9C%EA%B8%80%EB%A7%9E%EC%B6%A4%EB%B2%95/(2017-12,20170328) |title=한글맞춤법 |access-date=2025-02-24 |date=2017-03-28}}

Since the late Joseon 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. {{Korean|hangul=2007년 3월 22일|hanja=2007年 3月 22日|lit=22 March 2007}}.

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).{{sfn|Taylor|1980|p=71}} 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.{{sfn|Taylor|1980|p=73}} 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.{{sfn|Taylor|1980|p=70}} 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 {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|홋}}/{{lang|nocat=yes|ko|훗}}/{{lang|ko|흣|nocat=yes}} ({{translit|ko|hot/hut/heut}}), {{lang|ko|퀼|nocat=yes}}/{{lang|ko|퀄|nocat=yes}} ({{translit|ko|kwil/kwol}}), {{lang|ko|홍|nocat=yes}}/{{lang|ko|흥|nocat=yes}} ({{translit|ko|hong/heung}}), and {{lang|ko|핥|nocat=yes}}/{{lang|ko|핣|nocat=yes}}/{{lang|ko|핢|nocat=yes}} ({{translit|ko|halt/halp/halm}}).

{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2021}}

File:Hangul TypeStyles sansPen.svg

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.{{cite web |title=Koreana Autumn 2007 (English) |date=3 February 2017 |url=https://issuu.com/the_korea_foundation/docs/2007_03_e_b_a |publisher=Koreana Autumn 2007 (English) |access-date=13 October 2021}}

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).

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 ({{Korean|hangul=궁체|hanja=宮體|labels=no}}), which means Palace Style because the style was mostly developed and used by the maidservants ({{Korean|hangul=궁녀|hanja=宮女|rr=gungnyeo|labels=no}}) of the Joseon court.

Modern styles that are more suited for printed media were developed in the 20th century. In 1993, new names for both Myeongjo ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|明朝}}) and Gothic styles were introduced when Ministry of Culture initiated an effort to standardize typographic terms, and the names Batang ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|바탕}}, meaning background) and Dotum ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|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 ({{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅇ}}) of such fonts usually lacks a serif that could be mistaken for the short vertical line of the letter {{lang|nocat=yes|ko|ㅜ}} (u).

{{Portal|Language}}

• Cyrillization of Korean (Kontsevich System)
• Hangul consonant and vowel tables
• Hangul orthography
• Korean Braille
• Korean language and computers{{snd}}methods to type the language
• Korean manual alphabet
• Korean mixed script
• Debate on mixed script and Hangul exclusivity
• Korean phonology
• Korean spelling alphabet
• Myongjo
• Romanization of Korean
• Yale romanization of Korean

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Chang |first=Suk-jin |title=Korean |location=Philadelphia |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-55619-728-4 |chapter=Scripts and Sounds }} (Volume 4 of the London Oriental and African Language Library).
• {{cite web |title=Hangeul Matchumbeop |year=1988 |publisher=The Ministry of Education of South Korea |url = http://www.korean.go.kr/search/grammar/rule/collect_rule.html }}
• {{cite book |last=Hannas |first=W[illia]m C. |title=Asia's Orthographic Dilemma |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJfv8Iyd2m4C |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-8248-1892-0 }}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Kim-Renaud |editor-first=Young-Key |title=The Korean Alphabet: Its History and Structure |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nonRl2cerIgC |year=1997 |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1723-7 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Iksop |first2=Samuel Robert |last2=Ramsey |title=The Korean Language |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NN-yIdLOkCoC |year=2000 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-9130-0 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=McCune |first1=G[eorge] M. |last2=Reischauer |first2=E[dwin] O. |date=1939 |title=The Romanization of the Korean Language: Based upon Its Phonetic Structure |journal=Transactions of the Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |volume=XXIX |pages=1–55 |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/files/2011/07/ras-1939.pdf |access-date=2015-08-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712071618/http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/files/2011/07/ras-1939.pdf |archive-date=2015-07-12}}
• {{cite book |last=Sampson |first=Geoffrey |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-8047-1756-4 |title=Writing Systems |publisher=Stanford University Press |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/writingsystems00geof }}
• {{cite journal |last=Silva |first=David J. |title=Western attitudes toward the Korean language: An Overview of Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century Mission Literature |journal=Korean Studies |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=270–286 |year=2002 |doi=10.1353/ks.2004.0013 |hdl=10106/11257 |s2cid=55677193 |url=https://rc.library.uta.edu/uta-ir/bitstream/handle/10106/11257/WesternAttitudesKoreanLanguage-Silva.pdf |hdl-access=free }}
• {{cite book |last=Sohn |first=Ho-Min |year=2001 |title=The Korean Language |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sx6gdJIOcoQC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-36943-5 |series=Cambridge Language Surveys }}
• {{cite thesis |last=Son |first=Jeonghye |date=2008 |title=Korean residents in Japan and their Korean language in multiple language contacts |url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0067017 |work= |degree= M.A. |location= Vancouver |publisher=University of British Columbia }}
• {{cite book |last=Song |first=Jae Jung |title=The Korean Language: Structure, Use and Context |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3D36c9l_u0sC |year=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-39082-5 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Stonham |first=John |title=Middle Korean Δ and the Cheju dialect |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=97–118 |year=2011 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X10000741 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41287927}}
• {{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Insup |chapter=The Korean writing system: An alphabet? A syllabary? A logography? |editor1-first=P.A. |editor1-last=Kolers |editor2-first=M. E. |editor2-last=Wrolstad |editor3-first=Herman |editor3-last=Bouma |editor3-link=Herman Bouma |title=Processing of Visual Language |publisher=Plenum Press |location=New York |year=1980 |isbn=978-0306405761 |oclc=7099393 |volume=2 |pages=67–82 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4684-1068-6_5 }}

{{refend}}

{{Wiktionary|Appendix:List of modern Hangul syllabic blocks by strokes}}

{{Commons category|Hangul}}

• [https://www.omniglot.com/writing/korean.htm Korean alphabet and pronunciation] by Omniglot
• [http://www.langintro.com/kintro/toc.htm Online Hangul tutorial] at Langintro.com
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090827124705/http://www.sayjack.com/learn/korean/hangul Hangul table with Audio Slideshow]
• [http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/var/korean_hangul_unicode.html Technical information on Hangul and Unicode]
• [http://www.kmaru.com/kboard/kboard.maru Hangul Sound Keyboard] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210621224735/http://www.kmaru.com/kboard/kboard.maru |date=21 June 2021 }} at Kmaru.com
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20171018022208/http://www.koreanwikiproject.com/wiki/Learn_hangeul Learn Hangul] at Korean Wiki Project

{{Hangul Jamo}}

{{Joseon}}

{{List of writing systems}}

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