Hangul consonant and vowel tables

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The following tables of consonants and vowels (jamo) of the Korean alphabet ( Hangul ) display (in blue) the basic forms in the first row and their derivatives in the following row(s). They are divided into initials (leading consonants), vowels (middle), and finals tables (trailing consonants).

Contents

The jamo shown below are individually romanized according to the Revised Romanization of Hangeul (RR Transliteration), which is a system of transliteration rules between the Korean and Roman alphabets, originating from South Korea. However, the tables below are not sufficient for normal transcription of the Korean language as the overarching Revised Romanization of Korean system takes contextual sound changes into account.

Leading consonants

Called choseong, or "initials", there are 19 initial consonants, whereof one (ㅇ) is silent, and five (ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ) are doubled:

Basic jamoHangul
RRg/kndr/lmbs-/ngjchktph
CompositeHangul
RRkkttppssjj

Medial vowels

Called jungseong, or "vowels", there are 21 medial vowels:

Basic form+e/i
Basic jamoHangul
RRaeooueuiaeeoewiui
y+Hangul
RRyayeoyoyuyaeye
w+Hangul
RRwawowaewe

Trailing consonants

Called jongseong, or "finals", there are 27 final consonants; with the additional case of no final consonant, there is a total of 28 possibilities:

Basic jamoHangul
RRgndr/lmbsngjchktph
CompositeHangul
RRkknjlgbsss
Hangul
RRgsnhlm
Hangul
RRlb
Hangul
RRls
Hangul
RRlt
Hangul
RRlp
Hangul
RRlh

Collation

Several collation sequences are used to order words (like alphabetical sorting). The North and South differ on (a) the treatment of composite jamo consonants in syllable-leading (choseong) and -trailing (jongseong) position, and (b) on the treatment of composite jamo vowels in syllable-medial (jungseong) position.

This first sequence is official in South Korea (and is the basic binary order of codepoints in Unicode):

South Korean collation
PrincipleSort every composite jamo grouped after their leading single jamo
Initial consonants

ㄱ ㄲㄷ ㄸㅂ ㅃㅅ ㅆㅈ ㅉ

Vowels

ㅏ ㅐㅑ ㅒㅓ ㅔㅕ ㅖㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟㅡ ㅢ

Final consonants

ㄱ ㄲ ㄳㄴ ㄵ ㄶㄹ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀㅂ ㅄㅅ ㅆ

Sequences of this second type are common in North Korea:

North Korean collation
PrincipleInitial consonants: All single jamo (except ieung ㅇ) before all doubled jamo; ieung after the doubled jamo
Vowels: All single jamo before all composite jamo; for composite jamo, all digraphs before all trigraphs; for digraphs, the ones ending in ㅣ precede others.
Final consonants: Doubled jamo after single and composite jamo
Initial consonants

ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ

Vowels

ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅚ ㅟ ㅢㅘ ㅝㅙ ㅞ

Final consonants

ㄱ ㄳ ㄴ ㄵ ㄶ ㄷ ㄹ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅁ ㅂ ㅄ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎㄲ ㅆ

Letter names

Consonants

Consonant letter names [1] [2]
ConsonantSouth Korean nameNorth Korean name
HangulHangul RR Hangul MR
기역giyeok기윽kiŭk
쌍기역ssanggiyeok된기윽toen'giŭk
니은nieun니은niŭn
디귿digeut디읃tiŭt
쌍디귿ssangdigeut된디읃toendiŭt
리을rieul리을riŭl
미음mieum미음miŭm
비읍bieup비읍piŭp
쌍비읍ssangbieup된비읍toenbiŭp
시옷siot시읏siŭt
쌍시옷ssangsiot된시읏toensiŭt
이응ieung이응iŭng
지읒jieut지읒chiŭt
쌍지읒ssangjieut된지읒toenjiŭt
치읓chieut치읓ch'iŭt
키읔kieuk키읔k'iŭk
티읕tieut티읕t'iŭt
피읖pieup피읖p'iŭp
히읗hieut히읗hiŭt

Vowels

Vowel letter names [1]
VowelName
Hangul RR MR
aa
aeae
yaya
yaeyae
eoŏ
ee
yeo
yeye
oo
wawa
waewae
oeoe
yoyo
uu
wo
wewe
wiwi
yuyu
euŭ
uiŭi
ii

Archaic letters

Many archaic letters did not have official names; even into the modern period, scholars described them using a variety of names. In 1992, the National Institute of Korean Language (NIKL) met and decided which official names to give the archaic letters; these names were to be applied to Unicode. [3] [4] These names were then romanized using the ISO/TR 11941 romanization system (but without apostrophes). [5]

NIKL names for archaic jamo [3] [6]
JamoNameRRUnicode [5]
가벼운 미음gabyeoun mieumkapyeoun mieum
가벼운 비읍gabyeoun bieupkapyeoun pieup
반시옷bansiotpansios
여린 히읗yeorin hieutyeorin hieuh
옛이응yennieungyesieung
가벼운 피읖gabyeoun pieupkapyeoun phieuph
가벼운 쌍비읍gabyeoun ssangbieupkapyeoun ssangpieup
쌍이응ssangieungssangieung
쌍히읗ssanghieutssanghieuh
아래아araeaaraea
쌍아래아ssangaraeassangaraea
치두음 시옷chidueum siotchitueum sios
치두음 쌍시옷chidueum ssangsiotchitueum ssangsios
정치음 시옷jeongchieum siotceongchieum sios
정치음 쌍시옷jeongchieum ssangsiotceongchieum ssangsios
치두음 지읒chidueum jieutchitueum cieuc
치두음 쌍지읒chideum ssangjieutchitueum ssangcieuc
정치음 지읒jeongchieum jieutceongchieum cieuc
정치음 쌍지읒jeongchieum ssangjieutceongchieum ssangcieuc
치두음 치읓chidueum chieutchitueum chieuch
정치음 치읓jeongchieum chieutceongchieum chieuch

Hangul syllables

With 19 possible initial consonants, 21 possible medial (one- or two-letter) vowels, and 28 possible final consonants (of which one corresponds to the case of no final consonant), there are a total of 19 × 21 × 28 = 11,172theoretically possible "Korean syllable letters" (Korean : 글자; RR : geulja;lit. letter), [7] which are contiguously encoded in the 11,172 Unicode code points from U+AC00 (Decimal: 44,03210) through U+D7A3 (Decimal: 55,20310= 44,032 + 11,171) within the Hangul Syllables Unicode block. However, the majority of these theoretically possible syllables do not correspond to syllables found in actual Korean words or proper names.

Jump to tables with initial letter:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Sohn, Ho-Min (2001). The Korean Language. Cambridge University Press. pp. 139–141. ISBN   978-0-521-36943-5.
  2. 홍윤표 (June 2018). "한글 사용에 남북한은 어떠한 차이가 있을까?" [What differences are there in the use of Hangul between North and South Korea?]. 한박웃음 (in Korean). No. 59. National Hangeul Museum . Retrieved 2025-09-23.
  3. 1 2 홍윤표. "없어진 한글 자모, 어떤 소리를 나타낸 것일까요?" [What sounds did archaic Hangul jamo make?]. National Institute of Korean Language (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  4. 홍윤표 2019, p. 70.
  5. 1 2 "Hangul Jamo". Unicode Consortium . Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  6. 홍윤표 2019, p. 71.
  7. Lee, Sung-jae. 한글 자모의 배열 순서 [The order of Korean alphabet]. National Institute of Korean Language (in Korean). Retrieved 3 June 2025.

Sources