01OVERVIEW
Front Matter
SCRIPT · PROFILE
Hangul 한글
Hunminjeongeum — "The proper sounds to instruct the people." The world's only writing system whose inventor, date, and purpose are fully documented.
Created in 1443 by King Sejong, the world's only script whose inventor, date, and purpose are fully documented. Consonants are modeled on the shape of vocal organs (tongue, lips, throat); vowels on the philosophical triad of Heaven, Earth, and Human. UNESCO's award for literacy improvement is named the "King Sejong Literacy Prize." Linguist Geoffrey Sampson called Hangul "the world's greatest alphabet."
600 Years of Hangul
From creation to today
1443
Creation
King Sejong personally creates 28 letters.
1446
Publication
Hunminjeongeum Haerye published — the people's script enters the world.
1894
Official adoption
Gabo Reform makes Hangul the official script.
1948
Hangul-only
Hangul-only era begins with the establishment of the Republic of Korea.
1997
UNESCO listing
Hunminjeongeum Haerye registered as UNESCO Memory of the World.
02ARTIFACT
Primary Artifact
Hunminjeongeum Haerye
1446 · National Treasure No.70 · Kansong Art Museum
Page 1
Preface
Text close-up
— "The sounds of our country's language are different from those of China." · 1446
The official manual explaining Hunminjeongeum, published in 1446 after King Sejong's creation of the script in 1443. Documents the design principles—consonants modeled on vocal organs, vowels on the Heaven-Earth-Human philosophy. Registered as UNESCO Memory of the World in 1997.
04SPECIMEN
The Letters
Signs · Unicode · TypesSample GlyphsClick to copy
Unicode
Range 1U+AC00–U+D7A3
Range 2U+1100–U+11FF
Range 3U+3130–U+318F
Total signs11172
In Unicode11,428
Unicode Blocks
Glyph evolution
Form change over time
Loading evolution data…
Letter diagrams
Five basic consonants modeled on vocal organs
ㄱ ㅋ
g · k
Molar sounds
Tongue root blocking the throat
ㄴ ㄷ ㅌ
n · d · t
Lingual sounds
Tongue touching upper gum
ㅁ ㅂ ㅍ
m · b · p
Labial sounds
Shape of the mouth/lips
ㅅ ㅈ ㅊ
s · j · ch
Dental sounds
Shape of the teeth
ㅇ ㅎ
∅ · h
Guttural sounds
Shape of the throat
06MECHANICS
Reading Mechanics
Direction · Method↔
Direction
Left to Right (LTR)
Left to right; consonants and vowels combine into syllable blocks.
α
System
Featural
⌨
Input method
Dubeolsik (standard) or Sebeolsik layouts; jamo combine automatically into syllable blocks.
Keyboard layout
Standard IME · input chart
Hangul Dubeolsik (KS X 5002)
Korean standard. Consonants left, vowels right.
ㅃㅂ
ㅉㅈ
ㄸㄷ
ㄲㄱ
ㅆㅅ
ㅛ
ㅕ
ㅑ
ㅒㅐ
ㅖㅔ
ㅁ
ㄴ
ㅇ
ㄹ
ㅎ
ㅗ
ㅓ
ㅏ
ㅣ
ㅋ
ㅌ
ㅊ
ㅍ
ㅠ
ㅜ
ㅡ
space
⌫
💡 Jamo auto-combine into syllable blocks. Shift inputs tense consonants.
07LINEAGE
The Lineage
Family · DescendantsPhylogeny
Ancestors & descendants
Phylogeny
Related scripts
Ancestors · Descendants · Family
08REACH
In the World
Usage · ReachUsage by region
Those who use Hangul daily
Hangul in the world
Users · Rank · History
80M
Users
13
Rank
580+
Years
Major museums
한
National Hangeul Museum
Seoul
宮
National Palace Museum
Seoul
王
Kansong Art Museum
Seoul
訓
Yeongneung (Sejong's tomb)
Yeoju
Living legacy
10/9
Hangul Day
Korean national holiday celebrating the 1446 publication
UNESCO
Literacy Prize
King Sejong Literacy Prize awarded by UNESCO since 1990
1997
Memory of the World
Hunminjeongeum Haerye registered with UNESCO MoW
11,172
Syllables
Combinations of 19 initials × 21 medials × 28 finals