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).

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 jamo Hangul ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅇㅈㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎ
Roman g/kndr/lmbs-/ngjchktph
Composite Hangul ㄲㄸㅃㅆㅉ
Roman gg / kkttbb / ppssjj

Medial vowels

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

Basic form +e/i
Basic jamo Hangul ㅏㅓㅗㅜㅡㅣ ㅐㅔㅚ[lower-alpha 1]ㅟ[lower-alpha 2]ㅢ
Roman aeooueui aeeoewiui
y+ Hangul ㅑㅕㅛㅠ ㅒㅖ
Roman yayeoyoyu yaeye
w+ Hangul ㅘㅝㅚ[lower-alpha 1]ㅟ[lower-alpha 2] ㅙㅞ
Roman wawooewi waewe
  1. 1 2 These two are identical.
  2. 1 2 These two are identical.

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 jamo Hangul ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅇㅈㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎ
Roman gndr/lmbsngjchktph
Composite Hangul ㄲㄵㄺㅄㅆ
Roman kknjlgbsss
Hangul ㄳㄶㄻ
Roman gsnhlm
Hangul ㄼ
Roman lb
Hangul ㄽ
Roman ls
Hangul ㄾ
Roman lt
Hangul ㄿ
Roman lp
Hangul ㅀ
Roman lh

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
Principle Sort every composite jamo grouped after their leading single jamo
Initial consonants

ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ

Vowels

ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ

Final consonants

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

Sequences of this second type are common in North Korea:

North Korean collation
Principle Initial 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 ㅎ ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ ㅇ

Vowels

ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅚ ㅟ ㅢ ㅘ ㅝ ㅙ 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 ㅎ ㄲ ㅆ

Letter names

Consonants

Consonant South Korean name
HangulRomanized HangulRomanized
ㄱg 기역giyeok
ㄲkk 쌍기역ssanggiyeok
ㄴn 니은nieun
ㄷd 디귿digeut
ㄸtt 쌍디귿ssangdigeut
ㄹr, l 리을rieul
ㅁm 미음mieum
ㅂb 비읍bieup
ㅃpp 쌍비읍ssangbieup
ㅅs 시옷siot
ㅆss 쌍시옷ssangsiot
ㅇ-, -ng 이응ieung
ㅈj 지읒jieut
ㅉjj 쌍지읒ssangjieut
ㅊch 치읓chieut
ㅋk 키읔kieuk
ㅌt 티읕tieut
ㅍp 피읖pieup
ㅎh 히읗hieut

* Consonant names in the 15th century seem to have ended in a vowel (without adding the last consonant repeating a shortened version of the initial), judging from 1451 Hunmin Jeongeum Eonhae's forms such as "ㄱ는", which may have been pronounced geuneun.

Vowels

The "names" of the vowels are given according to the sound they make (their pronunciation). To be technical, the silent consonant would be added before the sound (e.g., ㅏ becomes 아).

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 = 11,172 theoretically possible "Korean syllable letters" (Korean: 글자; RR: geulja; lit. letter) 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:

ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ

See also

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