| Yennieung | |
|---|---|
| ㆁ | |
 | |
| Usage | |
| Writing system | Hangul |
| Type | Alphabet |
| Sound values | [ŋ] |
| In Unicode | U+3181, U+114C, U+11F0 |
| Other | |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 옛이응 |
| RR | yennieung |
| MR | yenniŭng |
Yennieung (letter: ㆁ; name: 옛이응) is an archaic consonant letter of the Korean alphabet, Hangul. It was associated with a voiced velar nasal [ŋ] sound.[1] In Unicode, its name is spelled yesieung, following the ISO/TR 11941 romanization system.[2] The letter is no longer used in modern Hangul orthographies. Its function gradually merged with that of the letter ㅇ; that letter now fulfills both their previous roles.
Description
It has a stroke on top, added from ㅇ, the null or zero initial. The relationship between these two characters is considered to be unusual, as they are of different sound classes of the Chinese linguistic system fanqie. Normally, strokes between Hangul letters to relate characters within the same sound class. They were considered to be related because an initial ng sound was a then-disappearing feature of the Chinese language. Ledyard argues that ㆁ is unlikely to have ever been useful as an initial consonant for Korean, as that language likely never had an initial ng sound, and that it was mostly meant for representing Chinese.[1] They were often confused, as they are so visually similar.[3] In the 15th century, it was used in both as an initial and final consonant. It became final only at the start of the 16th century.[4] By the 17th century, the two letters functionally merged into ㅇ.[3]
Computing codes
| Preview | ㆁ | ᅌ | ᇰ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | HANGUL LETTER YESIEUNG | HANGUL CHOSEONG YESIEUNG | HANGUL JONGSEONG YESIEUNG | |||
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 12673 | U+3181 | 4428 | U+114C | 4592 | U+11F0 |
| UTF-8 | 227 134 129 | E3 86 81 | 225 133 140 | E1 85 8C | 225 135 176 | E1 87 B0 |
| Numeric character reference | ㆁ | ㆁ | ᅌ | ᅌ | ᇰ | ᇰ |
References
- Ledyard 1998, pp. 213–214.
- "Hangul Jamo". Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
- Ledyard 1998, pp. 213–214, 245–246; Lee 1997b, pp. 110–111; Sampson 1985, pp. 127–128.
- Ahn 2018, p. 290.
Sources
- Ahn, Pyong-hi (2018) [2007]. Studies in Hunminjeongeum. Translated by Jung, Ha-yun (English ed.). National Hangeul Museum. ISBN 979-11-89438-00-5.
- Kim-Renaud, Young-Key, ed. (1997). The Korean Alphabet: Its History and Structure. University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1989-7.
- Lee, Sang-Oak (1997b). "Graphical Ingenuity in the Korean Writing System: With New Reference to Calligraphy". In Kim-Renaud (1997).
- Ledyard, Gari Keith (1998) [1966]. The Korean Language Reform of 1446: The Origin, Background, and Early History of the Korean Alphabet. 신구문화사.
- Sampson, Geoffrey (1985). Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-1756-7 – via Internet Archive.
External links
The dictionary definition of ㆁ at Wiktionary
