What is Hangul?

An alphabet designed on purpose, in 1443, so that anyone could learn to read.

Hangul is the Korean alphabet. Most writing systems grew slowly over thousands of years, but Hangul was designed. King Sejong and his scholars completed it in 1443 and published it in 1446, because the Chinese characters used at the time were too hard for ordinary people to learn.

It is a true alphabet, not a set of thousands of characters. There are 14 basic consonants and 10 basic vowels. What looks like one complicated character, such as 한, is really three simple letters (ㅎ, ㅏ, ㄴ) stacked into one square block.

The shapes are logical. ㄱ and ㄴ sketch the position of the tongue, and adding a stroke makes a stronger sound: ㄱ → ㅋ, ㄷ → ㅌ, ㅂ → ㅍ. Vowels are built from a vertical line, a horizontal line and a short stroke.

Because of this design, many learners can read Hangul slowly within a few days. South Korea celebrates Hangul Day every year on October 9.

Practice typing on TypeRecall Korean →

TypeRecall Korean is free, with no sign-up. You see the meaning, hear the Korean, and type it in Hangul yourself. Made by a government-certified Korean teacher with 10+ years of experience.