1. The Creation of Hangeul

During the Joseon Dynasty, King Sejong the Great, the fourth monarch, promulgated the "Hunminjeongeum," a scientific writing system, in 1443 to allow the people to record and communicate information easily and accurately.

At that time, Joseon was using difficult Chinese characters as its writing system, which meant that ordinary people could only express themselves orally and found it difficult to appeal to authorities or rectify grievances.

Seeing this as regrettable, King Sejong, along with scholars from the Hall of Worthies (Jiphyeonjeon), created a new system of consonants and vowels modeled after the shapes of the vocal organs and the philosophical concepts of heaven, earth, and human, comprising a total of 28 characters to enable the people to express their thoughts.

When did “Hunminjeongeum” start to be called “Hangeul”? Although there might be some disputes about this matter, it is assumed that the name “Hangeul” began to be used since the beginning of 1910s according to records.

After Hunminjeongeum was created, it was called in various names such as “jeongeum,” “eonmun,” “banjeol,” etc. Since the Gabo Reform of 1894, Hunminjeongeum was commonly called as “gukmun” or “gukseo.” The name “Hangeul” can be found in the book <Hangeulmo Jukbogi> published by an academic research group, Baedalmal Geulmoeum and children’s magazines such as Aideulboi, etc. Later, in 1927 Joseon Language Society published their research journal “Hangeul.” Furthermore, in 1928 as the name of the public holiday to celebrate the creation of Hunminjeongeum was changed from “gagyanal” to “Hangeulnal,” the name “Hangeul” began to be widely used.

2. The Principle of Hangeul

Among the 28 characters that make up Hunminjeongeum, there are 5 basic consonants: ㄱ, ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅅ, ㅇ, and 3 basic vowels: ㆍ, ㅡ, ㅣ. The remaining characters are created by adding strokes to these 8 basic characters or by combining them.

The 5 basic consonants were designed based on the shape of the human vocal organs. The letter ㄱ, which represents a velar sound, is modeled after the shape of the tongue blocking the throat. The letter ㄴ, representing an alveolar sound, is shaped after the tongue touching the upper gums. The bilabial sound letter ㅁ reflects the shape of the mouth or lips. The dental sound letter ㅅ is modeled after the shape of the teeth, and the glottal sound letter ㅇ is based on the shape of the throat. By adding strokes to these 5 basic consonant characters depending on the intensity of the sound, a total of 17 consonant characters were created. For example, from the basic consonant ㄴ[n], a stronger sound is represented by ㄷ[d], and an even stronger sound by ㅌ[t].

The 3 basic vowels were created based on the shapes representing heaven (ㆍ), earth (ㅡ), and human (ㅣ). The remaining letters were formed by combining these basic vowels. For example, by placing a ㆍ on either side of ㅣ, the vowels ㅏ and ㅓ were created, and by placing a ㆍ above or below ㅡ, the vowels ㅗ and ㅜ were created. Similarly, by attaching one more ㆍ to ㅣ and ㅡ, the vowels ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ, and ㅠ were formed. In this way, a total of 11 vowel characters were made. Thus, Hangeul was created as a system that extends a minimal number of basic characters into a regular pattern, making it easy to learn and efficient to use.

Source: National Hangeul Museum

The spirit and principles behind Hangeul's creation