Korean Consonant Names: How to Say ㄱ to ㅎ (기역 to 히읗)

What Are the Korean Consonant Names?

The Korean consonant names are the words Koreans use to say a consonant letter out loud, in the same way English speakers say "bee" for B. The name of ㄴ is 니은 (nieun), and the name of ㅁ is 미음 (mieum). The names are different from the sounds: ㄴ makes an n sound, but its name is 니은.

You need the names in practice. People use them to spell a word aloud, to describe a letter in a dictionary, in typing classes and in everyday slang. ㅋㅋ, the common text for laughter, is read as 키읔키읔 (kieuk kieuk) when someone says it by letter name. The 한글 맞춤법 (Hangul Orthography rules, National Institute of Korean Language, Article 4) fixes the official names and order.

The next section shows how most names are built.

The Naming Pattern: Letter + 이, Then 으 + Letter

Most consonant names are built from the letter's own sound at the start and at the end. Take the letter, add the vowel ㅣ to make the first syllable, then add the vowel ㅡ and the letter again as a final consonant for the second syllable.

This pattern gives 11 of the 14 basic names: 니은, 리을, 미음, 비읍, 이응, 지읒, 치읓, 키읔, 티읕, 피읖 and 히읗. If you remember the pattern, you can work out a name from the letter, and the letter from the name. The three exceptions are the subject of a later section, because they break the pattern for a historical reason.

Full List of the 19 Korean Consonant Names

The table lists every name with the lesson for each letter. The last column gives the spoken form, because a final consonant is reduced in speech to one of 7 final sounds. For example, 키읔 is said [키윽].

Listen to the 14 basic names: Play Play Play Play Play Play Play Play Play Play Play Play Play Play

Listen to the 5 double names: Play Play Play Play Play

Why Are 기역, 디귿 and 시옷 Irregular?

기역, 디귿 and 시옷 are irregular because they follow an older naming scheme and not the later pattern. A common account traces them to 훈몽자회 (Hunmong Jahoe, 1527), a Chinese-character primer by Choe Sejin, which gave the letters names that were glossed with Chinese characters. For three letters, no suitable character existed to write the expected names 기윽, 디읃 and 시읏, so the book used 기역, 디귿 and 시옷 instead. The lesson on the letter ㄱ and the lesson on the letter ㅅ show the irregular names in use.

Standard modern Korean keeps these three forms. Learners should memorize them as exceptions: 기역, 디귿, 시옷.

How Are Double Consonant Names Formed?

Double consonant names are formed by adding 쌍 (ssang, "pair" or "twin") in front of the name of the plain letter. So ㄲ is 쌍기역, ㄸ is 쌍디귿, ㅃ is 쌍비읍, ㅆ is 쌍시옷 and ㅉ is 쌍지읒. The irregular base names stay irregular. For the sounds of the five doubled letters, see the page on double consonants.

Where the Names Came from: Hunmong Jahoe (1527)

The names are younger than the letters. The Hunminjeongeum (1446), the original proclamation of Hangul, described the letters and their sounds but did not give them the names used today. The earliest widely cited list of letter names appears in Choe Sejin's Hunmong Jahoe (1527), which gave two-syllable names to the eight letters that could end a syllable and one-syllable names to the rest. The Korean Language Society's Unified Hangul Orthography (한글 맞춤법 통일안, 1933) extended the two-syllable pattern to all 14 letters, and the current Hangul Orthography (1988, now maintained by the National Institute of Korean Language) keeps those names.

For the order in which Koreans recite the letters, see Korean alphabet order.

North Korean Consonant Names

North Korea uses a regular naming scheme for all the consonants, with no exceptions. The North Korean alphabet, called 조선글 in the North, has the same letters as the South, but different names and a different dictionary order. The page on the North Korean alphabet gives more background.

The other 11 basic names are the same in both. North Korea replaces 쌍 with 된 (doen, "hard" or "tense") for the doubled letters.

When Do You Use Consonant Names in Real Life?

You use consonant names whenever you need to say a letter aloud. Four common situations are below.

1. Spelling a name or word. To spell 김, a speaker says "기역, 이, 미음".
2. Dictionary and textbook headings. Letters are introduced by name: "ㅂ은 비읍입니다."
3. Typing and keyboard classes. Teachers say "press 미음" to point at the key for ㅁ.
4. Slang. ㅋㅋ is sometimes read aloud as 키읔키읔.

Vowels are different, as the next section shows.

Vowel Names: the Sound with a Silent ㅇ

Vowel names are simply their sound written with a silent ㅇ: ㅏ is 아, ㅓ is 어, ㅗ is 오 and ㅜ is 우. There is no pattern to learn. Consonant names are longer because a consonant cannot be pronounced without a vowel, and the two-syllable name shows the letter both at the start and at the end of a syllable. The lesson on the vowel ㅏ shows how a vowel stands alone.

Which Names Should You Learn First?

Learn the 14 basic names first, then the five doubled names last, because the doubled names reuse the basic ones.

1. Learn the pattern and the 11 regular names from the table.
2. Memorize the three irregular names, 기역, 디귿 and 시옷.
3. Add the five doubled names by putting 쌍 in front.
4. Check yourself with the Hangul flashcards, which play audio only when you tap.

For the sounds that go with each name, return to the basic Korean consonants. To see them next to the other groups, open all Korean consonants. Audio on this page is machine-generated and its review status is shown beside each clip; the Korean content is a draft until a Korean specialist signs it off.

Questions about Korean Consonant Names

What is ㅋㅋ called in Korean? ㅋㅋ is called 키읔키읔 (kieuk kieuk) when it is read by letter name. Koreans type it in chat to mean laughter, much like "haha" or "lol". It can also be read as 크크, the sound of a chuckle, but 키읔 is the name of the letter ㅋ. It is a good example of letter names appearing in slang.

Do Koreans use letter names in daily life? Yes, but mostly for spelling, teaching and typing. When Koreans spell a person's name aloud, they say each letter by its name, such as 기역, 이, 미음 for 김. In school and in typing classes, teachers also use the names to talk about letters. In normal reading, the letters are read by their sounds.

How do you say the name 히읗? 히읗 is said [히읃] in standard pronunciation. The last syllable has ㅎ at the bottom of the block, and a final ㅎ is reduced to [t], so it sounds like 히읃. Say 히 first, then 으 and close the sound on the tongue tip. It is the last consonant name in dictionary order.

Are vowel names different from consonant names? Yes. Vowel names are simply their sounds with a silent ㅇ in front: ㅏ is 아, ㅓ is 어, ㅗ is 오. Consonant names have two syllables so they can show the letter at the start and at the end of a syllable, and each consonant needs a vowel to be said. As a result, the vowel names are shorter and need no pattern or exceptions.