Hangul Syllables

See also: Hangul Jamo (Unicode block), Hangul Jamo Extended-A, Hangul Jamo Extended-B, and Hangul Compatibility Jamo (Unicode block)

Short description: Unicode character block

Hangul Syllables
Range	U+AC00..U+D7AF (11,184 code points)
Plane	BMP
Scripts	Hangul
Major alphabets	Hangul
Assigned	11,172 code points
Unused	12 reserved code points
Source standards	KS C 5601-1992
Unicode version history
2.0	11,172 (+11,172)
Note: 6,656 characters were present at U+3400..U+4DFF in Unicode 1.1, but were moved to their current locations with Unicode version 2.0, along with 4,516 additional characters.

Hangul Syllables is a Unicode block containing precomposed Hangul syllabic blocks for modern Korean. The order of the characters in this Unicode block follows the Hangul alphabetical order of South Korea.

Algorithm for canonical decomposition mappings and character names

The canonical decomposition mappings and the character names of all characters in this Unicode block are algorithmically defined.

The following step gives the index number of the initial consonant, of the vowel, and of the final consonant for a given Hangul syllabic block.

1. Let S = (code point of a character from U+AC00 to U+D7A3, in decimal) − 44032
2. The index number of its
   1. initial consonant is S / 588
   2. vowel is (S % 588) / 28
   3. final consonant is S % 28

(x / y is the integer quotient of x divided by y; x % y is the remainder of x / y)

After getting the index numbers, use the following table to get the canonical decomposition mapping and the character name.

• For the canonical decomposition mapping, simply concatenate the Hangul jamo (element) characters in the "Decomposition" columns below, in the order "initial consonant, vowel, final consonant". The result should match the regular expression [ᄀ-ᄒ][ᅡ-ᅵ][ᆨ-ᇂ]? (one character from U+1100 to U+1112, and then one character from U+1161 to U+1175, and then optionally one character from U+11A8 to U+11C2).
• For the character name, write "HANGUL SYLLABLE " (with the trailing space) first and then concatenate the strings in the "Name" columns below, in the order "initial consonant, vowel, final consonant".

Index number	Initial consonant			Vowel			Final consonant
	Decomposition		Name	Decomposition		Name	Decomposition		Name
0	ᄀ	U+1100	G	ᅡ	U+1161	A	(null)
1	ᄁ	U+1101	GG	ᅢ	U+1162	AE	ᆨ	U+11A8	G
2	ᄂ	U+1102	N	ᅣ	U+1163	YA	ᆩ	U+11A9	GG
3	ᄃ	U+1103	D	ᅤ	U+1164	YAE	ᆪ	U+11AA	GS
4	ᄄ	U+1104	DD	ᅥ	U+1165	EO	ᆫ	U+11AB	N
5	ᄅ	U+1105	R	ᅦ	U+1166	E	ᆬ	U+11AC	NJ
6	ᄆ	U+1106	M	ᅧ	U+1167	YEO	ᆭ	U+11AD	NH
7	ᄇ	U+1107	B	ᅨ	U+1168	YE	ᆮ	U+11AE	D
8	ᄈ	U+1108	BB	ᅩ	U+1169	O	ᆯ	U+11AF	L
9	ᄉ	U+1109	S	ᅪ	U+116A	WA	ᆰ	U+11B0	LG
10	ᄊ	U+110A	SS	ᅫ	U+116B	WAE	ᆱ	U+11B1	LM
11	ᄋ	U+110B	(null)	ᅬ	U+116C	OE	ᆲ	U+11B2	LB
12	ᄌ	U+110C	J	ᅭ	U+116D	YO	ᆳ	U+11B3	LS
13	ᄍ	U+110D	JJ	ᅮ	U+116E	U	ᆴ	U+11B4	LT
14	ᄎ	U+110E	C	ᅯ	U+116F	WEO	ᆵ	U+11B5	LP
15	ᄏ	U+110F	K	ᅰ	U+1170	WE	ᆶ	U+11B6	LH
16	ᄐ	U+1110	T	ᅱ	U+1171	WI	ᆷ	U+11B7	M
17	ᄑ	U+1111	P	ᅲ	U+1172	YU	ᆸ	U+11B8	B
18	ᄒ	U+1112	H	ᅳ	U+1173	EU	ᆹ	U+11B9	BS
19				ᅴ	U+1174	YI	ᆺ	U+11BA	S
20				ᅵ	U+1175	I	ᆻ	U+11BB	SS
21							ᆼ	U+11BC	NG
22							ᆽ	U+11BD	J
23							ᆾ	U+11BE	C
24							ᆿ	U+11BF	K
25							ᇀ	U+11C0	T
26							ᇁ	U+11C1	P
27							ᇂ	U+11C2	H

Example

Hangul syllabic block: 쇒 (U+C1D2, decimal 49618)

1. S = 49618 − 44032 = 5586
2. The index number of its
   1. initial consonant is 5586 / 588 = 9
   2. vowel is (5586 % 588) / 28 = 10
   3. final consonant is 5586 % 28 = 14

Therefore, its

• canonical decomposition mapping is ᄉ+ᅫ+ᆵ (U+1109, U+116B, U+11B5)
• character name is "HANGUL SYLLABLE SWAELP"

History

See also: Hangul (obsolete Unicode block)

Encoding Hangul syllabic blocks in Unicode was complicated by a reorganization of the code points:

• Unicode version 1.0.0 encoded 2,350 modern Korean Hangul syllabic blocks from KS C 5601-1987 at U+3400–U+3D2D. This range is now part of CJK Unified Ideographs Extension A.
• Version 1.1 added 1,930 additional modern syllabic blocks from KS C 5657-1991 at U+3D2E–U+44B7, six modern syllabic blocks from GB 12052-89 at U+44B8–U+44BD, and the first 2,370 syllabic blocks that are not in the aforementioned three sets at U+44BE–U+4DFF. These collectively cover the remainder of what is now CJK Unified Ideographs Extension A and all of what is now Yijing Hexagram Symbols.
  • In addition, there were three errors in Unicode 1.1:
    • U+384E: 삤 in the Unicode Character Database, but 삣 in the Unicode 1.0 and ISO/IEC 10646-1:1993 code charts and per the source standard mappings
    • U+40BC: 삣 in the Unicode Character Database, but 삤 in the ISO/IEC 10646-1:1993 code charts and per the source standard mappings
    • U+436C: 콫 in the Unicode Character Database, but 콪 in the ISO/IEC 10646-1:1993 code charts and per the source standard mappings
• Version 2.0 added the 4,516 remaining possible syllabic blocks from KS C 5601-1992 and rearranged all of the encoded syllabic blocks into the current U+AC00–U+D7AF range which allows algorithmic decomposition into individual jamo.

RFC 2279 explains that this significant incompatible change was made on the assumption that no data or software using Unicode for Korean existed:

"The official justification for allowing such an incompatible change was that no implementations and no data containing Hangul existed, a statement that is likely to be true but remains unprovable. The incident has been dubbed the "Korean mess", and the relevant committees have pledged to never, ever again make such an incompatible change." — RFC 2279

Subsequently, Unicode adopted an encoding stability policy which states that "Once a character is encoded, it will not be moved or removed".

After all this, North Korea submitted a proposal to rearrange the characters to follow its own alphabetical order; it was rejected.

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Hangul Syllables block:

Version	Final code points	Count	UTC ID	L2 ID	WG2 ID	Document
2.0	U+AC00..D7A3	11,172			N767	Ksar, Mike (1991-11-25), Unconfirmed minutes WG2-Paris meeting of October 1991
				X3L2/93-078	N848	Modified Korean Position, 1992-07-02
			UTC/1994-xxx			Unicode Technical Committee Meeting #62: Discussion of Korean Hangul Proposal, 1994-09-30
				X3L2/95-031	N1158	Korean National Position for adding Hangul characters, 1995-03-08
					N1170	Canadian Position on Korean Proposal in N 1158 for adding Hangul characters, 1995-03-10
			UTC/1995-021B			Aliprand, Joan (1995-03-10), Closed Caucus Minutes, UTC #64
					N1198	Working Draft for a pDAM to 10646 on Korean Hangul, 1995-04-05
				X3L2/95-053.1	N1199	Background on Korean Coding, 1995-04-30
					N1203	Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1995-05-03), Unconfirmed minutes of SC2/WG2 Meeting 27, Geneva
				X3L2/95-053	N1209	PDAM no. 5 to ISO/IEC 10646-1: Hangul Character Collections, 1995-05-09
			UTC/1995-xxx			Unicode Technical Committee Meeting #65, Minutes, 1995-06-02
				X3L2/95-090	N1253 (doc, txt)	Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1995-09-09), Unconfirmed Minutes of WG 2 Meeting # 28 in Helsinki, Finland; 1995-06-26--27
					N1285	Hangul Syllable Character Name Generation Algorithm, 1995-11-08
					N1303 (html, doc)	Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1996-01-26), Minutes of Meeting 29, Tokyo
					N1331	Paterson, Bruce (1996-03-14), DAM 5 (Korean Hangul) Submittal to JTC1
					N1332	Paterson, Bruce (1996-03-14), BMP Revised Layout (DAM 5 diagram attachment)
					N1391	Paterson, Bruce (1996-05-18), Hangul syllable name algorithm, simplified
					N1353	Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1996-06-25), Draft minutes of WG2 Copenhagen Meeting # 30
					N1537	Table of Replies and Feedback on Amendment 5 – Hangul, 1997-01-29
				L2/97-125	N1561	Paterson, Bruce (1997-05-27), Draft Report on JTC1 letter ballot on DAM No. 5 to ISO/IEC 10646-1 (Hangul)
					N1570	Paterson, Bruce (1997-06-23), Almost Final Text (pages 2-5 and 182 only) of DAM 5 – Hangul
				L2/97-288	N1603	Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1997-10-24), Unconfirmed Meeting Minutes, WG 2 Meeting # 33, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 20 June – 4 July 1997
					N1806 (pdf, doc)	Kim, Kyongsok; Paterson, Bruce (1998-07-08), Defect Report on AMD 5 - Hangul Syllables with Editor's response
				L2/99-022	N1942	Paterson, Bruce (1998-12-08), Hangul syllable name rules, proposed for ISO/IEC 10646 2nd Edition
				L2/99-010	N1903 (pdf, html, doc)	Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1998-12-30), Minutes of WG 2 meeting 35, London, U.K.; 1998-09-21--25
				L2/99-114	N2018	Paterson, Bruce (1999-03-31), Draft Technical Technical Corrigendum No. 3 to ISO/IEC 10646-1: 1993
				L2/99-232	N2003	Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1999-08-03), Minutes of WG 2 meeting 36, Fukuoka, Japan, 1999-03-09--15
				L2/99-297	N2119	Disposition of Comments Report on SC 2 N 3306, Draft Technical Corrigendum No. 3 to ISO/IEC 10646-1: 1993, 1999-09-20
				L2/99-298	N2120	Paterson, Bruce (1999-09-21), Final Text for Technical Corrigendum No. 3 to ISO/IEC 10646-1: 1993
				L2/03-100		Edberg, Peter (2002-11-05), Hangul Mapping Errors
				L2/02-463	N2564	Kim, Kyongsok (2002-11-30), 3-way cross-reference tables - KS X 1001, KPS 9566, and UCS
				L2/04-361		Moore, Lisa (2004-11-23), UTC #101 Minutes
				L2/17-080		Chung, Jaemin (2017-03-29), Informative document about three pre-Unicode-2.0 modern hangul syllables