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- I
i
HANG&-IN-A-HURRY CHART 11
HANG&-IN-A-HURRY CHART I
Vowels
Consonants
t 1 "Y" Diphthongs Other Diphthongs
I "I" Diphthongs
I Stressed Consonants A s~irated onsonants
C
I
I (short line added (combinationsof
(vowel # 6 added
Basic Vowels
Basic Consanants (two basic consonants (sgort line added to
a
to basic vowels ) various vowels)
to basic vowels)
written together) basic consonants)
01 01
01 St l a. ae i b . ya wa
1. a
. (water)
(father) (hat)
4
4
O))
0] wae
2a. e 2b. yi(
2. 6
(w_et)
(se_t)
(hut)
4 3
9 oe 3b. ~6
3a. yo
3. o
(w_et) (w_on)
(heme)
4a. ui 4b.-$ YU
4. l-
(E)
(plume)
- 6 5a. 5
1
0 iii
5.
(we)*
*
(so_o~)
8. ;ng (final;
no sound 6. 01 i
as initial)
(kt)
* 'Pronounce without pursing the lips.
l o. h The "0" written with each vowel is an unvoiced consonant
which functions to indicate where an initial consonant maybe
'Slightly different than basic consonant number six.
affixed to the vowel when writing a syllable. See the inside
Basic consonants k , t , p, and ch are ~ ronounced s g, d, b,
a back cover for information on forming syllables.
and j , respectively, when occurring as medials. Stressed con-
sonaots are pronounced with more stress by far than their
-
unvoiced English counterparts, g , d , b, s, and j. Aspirated
consonants are said with an unabashed explosion of air. Initial
"r" is pronounced akin to its Spanish counterpart.
- A
- A Guide to
KOREAN
CHARACTERS
Reading and Writing
Hangiil and Hanja
SECOND REVISED EDITION
by
BRUCE K. GRANT
HOLLYM
- For Audrey
Michele
Denise
Mirae
Bruce
Maynard
Monique
and Taylor
Copyright @ 1982, 1979
by Bruce K . Grant
All rights reserved
First published in 1979
Reprinted in 1989
by Hollyrn International Corp.
18 Donald Place
Elizabeth, New Jersey 07208 U .S.A.
Published simultaneously in Korea
by Hollym Corporation; Publishers
14-5 Kwanchol-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul, Korea
Phone: (02)735-7554 Fax: (02)730-5149
ISBN: 0-930878-13-2
Printed i n Korea
- PREFACE
This book was designed as a guide for those who wish to
learn written Korean. It presents for the first time in English
the information necessary to read and write h angiil, the
Korean alphabet, and the 1,800 Chinese characters taught
in Korean schools. A Guide to Korean Characters contains
simplified charts explaining hang5l and models showing
exactly how to write each of the 1,800 Basic Characters. Sam-
ple vocabulary words, selected on the basis of frequency of
use, are included for each character. This handbook also
functions as a character dictionary since its entries are ar-
ranged in stroke-count order and it contains both a radical
and a phonetic index.
I am very grateful to those who have helped in the prep-
aration of A Guide to Korean Characters. Mr. Cho PyTing-ha
was indefatiguable, and the writing models in the text are
examples of his graceful calligraphy. Dr. Ch6n Y6ng-ch'd
and Mr. Yi Pang-h5n kindly read the entire manuscript and
made many useful suggestions. I am indebted to Mr. Chu
Shin-wgn, Chief Editor at Hollyrn Corporation: Publishers, for
his patient guidance. I alone, of course, am responsible for
errors.
Seoul. Korea Bruce K. Grant
July 1979
- CONTENTS
PREFACE 7
INTRODUCTION
The Korean Writing System
Hints on Learning Hangu'l
History of Chinese Characters
The Six Categories of Chinese Characters
Hints on Learning Hanja
Explanation of a Sample Character Entry
Writing Characters
Glossary
THE 1 ,800 BASIC CHARACTERS 25
33 3
APPENDICES
Korean Surnames 335
Easily Confused Characters 336
337
Commonly Abbreviated Characters
Characters with Multiple Readings 3 38
The 9 00 Middle School Characters in Textbook Order 3 39
INDEX
How to Use a Character Dictionary
Radical Index
Phonetic Index
SELECTED BIBLlOGRAPHY
E NDPAPER CHARTS
i nsidejront cover
~ an~ill-in-a-hurryharts
C
inside back cover
Hangill Writing Models
syllable Writing Models
- INTRODUCTION
THE KOREAN WRITING SYSTEM
Korean is a member of the Altaic family of languages and
is very similar to Japanese. I t has been spoken on the Korean
peninsula for more than 2,000 years but has enjoyed an in-
digenous writing system since only the fifteenth century.
Chinese exerted an early influence on Korean, and loan words
from the Chinese now comprise about sixty percent of the
Korean vocabulary.
Chinese is essentially uninflected, while Korean is poly-
synthetic. So different, in fact, are the two languages that
Chinese and English have more in common than do Chinese
and Korean. Ancient Koreans found Chinese ideographs
unsuited to phonetically represent their richly inflected lan-
guage, so they adopted written Chinese itself. Literate
Koreans wrote one language, classical Chinese, and spoke
another, Korean, until the dawn of the twentieth century, a
period in excess of 1,500 years.
In 1440, King Sejong of the Yi Dynasty set a group of
scholars to the task of inventing a means of writing the Ko-
rean language. The resulting phonetic alphabet was prom-
ulgated in 1446 but did not enjoy widespread use. Hangiil, a s
it is now called, is perhaps the most scientific alphabet in
general use in the world.
In 1972, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea
directed that 1,800 Sino-Korean characters, hanja, be taught
in all middle and high schools in the nation. These are com-
monly called the Basic Characters, and each is treated in this
book. Modern Korean is written in a mixed script in which
hanja is used for Chinese loan words and hangiil for purely
Korean items.
The Korean alphabet is so simple that its sixteen totally
11
- INTRODUCTION lNTRODUcrION
Forms of Chinese Characters
distinct letters can be learned in minutes with the aid of the
hangiil-in-a-hurry c harts at the inside front cover of this book.
Use these charts to decode hangal appearing in the book
and elsewhere until it becomes entirely familiar to you. The
charts at the inside back cover illustrate how to write each
hangGI letter and how to combine the letters into sylla-
bles.
Korean consonants are pronounced much as t hey a re in
English, though they annoyingly assume different shades of
sound when t hey appear as initials, medials, or finals. The five
stressed consonants are pronounced with greatest possible
stress but with no expulsion of air. For example, "tt" ( r-c ) i s
pronounced akin to the d of don't i nUDon't do that!'' The
aspirated consonants are pronounced with a heavy expulsion
of air. The "k' " ( 3 ) i s similar, for example, to the k of kill
in ill that rattlesnake!" Vowels are pronounced essentially
as noted on the inside front cover. Access to a native speaker
is recommended for refined pronunciation.
HISTORY OF CHINESE CHARACI'ERS
1n.ancientChina, pieces of bone and shell were incised with
characters and then heated. The resulting cracks among the
characters were used by oracles to foretell the future. Thou-
sands of such "oracle bones" have been unearthed. The char-
acters on them, the oldest extant, date from about 1,400 B.C.
Virtually all principles for the formation of ideographs are
evident on the oracle bones, suggesting a long period of de-
velopment prior to 1,400 B.C. After that time, characters
underwent a continuing evolution of form that ended about
2,000 years ago with the development of the "square char-
acters" still used today. The following chart traces four char-
acters through this evolution and illustrates character styles
which a modern reader is likely to encounter. Dates are very
approximate.
- INTRODUCIlON
two or more existing characters whose combined meanings
THE SIX CATEGORIES OF CHINESE CHARACTERS
*
provide a clue to the denotation of the compound. The Simple
Compound resulting from the union of R (sun) and (tree)
Characters traditionally have been classified into Six Cate-
is R . The new character is pronounced 3-tong), and signifies
(
gories according to how they were originally fabricated or how
''east," taking its meaning from the "sun" rising from behind
they later accrued meaning. An understanding of these cate-
a "tree" in the "east." A Simple compound is best learned
gories can bring a sense of order to the beginning reader who
by relating its meaning to that of its constituent elements. Of
is likely to be bewildered by a forest of seemingly unrelated
the graphs classified by Ch2ng Ch'iao, 740 were Simple
graphs. Moreover, the characteristics of the different types of
Compounds.
hanja suggest varying learning strategies for their mastery.
The Sung Dynasty scholar, Ch6ng Ch'iao, apportioned 24,235 Category Four: Phonetic Compounds
characters to the Six Categories, and his results provide an
About ninety percent of the characters of Ch2ng Ch'iao,
indication of the relative size of each category.(Kwtin, page
21,811 h anja, are Phonetic Compounds. These graphs can
2. See Bibliography.)
be characterized as semi-ideographic and semi-phonetic since
Category One: Simple Pictographs each is composed of a semantic element which furnishes a hint
Simple Pictographs were the first type of character to the general meaning of the compound and a phonetic
fabricated by the ancient Chinese. They picture objects, such element which provides a direct clue to its pronunciation.
as tree,*. The trunk, branches and roots of a tree can be seen The phonetic clue in the vast majority of Sino-Korean char-
even in this modern form of the character. Another Simple acters is a significant potential mnemonic aid but is widely
Pictograph is (sun). This stylized character was originally regarded as of limited value. Chinese lexicography obscures
round, and the line in its center represented rays of sunshine. the phonetic relationships among characters, and some
Only 608 of the characters classified by Cheng Ch'iao are Phonetic Compounds which share an identical phonetic ele-
Simple Pictographs, but they are important because many of ment have differing readings either because they were not
them are the building blocks from which other hanja are made. originally homophonous or because their pronunciations
A Simple Pictograph is easily learned by associating its diverged during centuries of phonetic and dialectic
shape and meaning. evolution. Nevertheless, it is likely that the phonetic
clue is underexploited rather than overexploited by students
Category Two: Simple Diagrams
of hanja .
Simple Diagrams were among the earliest characters made
and depict relationships for which no picture can readily be Category Five: Derived Meanings
drawn. Two common examples are I: (up) and (down). The Derived Meanings originally belonged to one of the first
diagrammatic nature of this pair is readily apparent. Simple four categories of characters. The evolution of Chinese gen-
Diagrams are best learned by associating shape and meaning. erated a need to assign abstract meanings to characters with
Ch$ng Ch'iao allotted 107 of his characters to this category. concrete denotations. Graphs of this type took on abstract
Category Three: Simple Compounds meanings but maintained their original denotation as well. An
example is 9, originally a Simple Pictograph of a man sitting
A subsequent development in the history of characters, Sim-
with crossed legs. Its derived meanings are "exchange, com-
ple Compounds are truly ideographic. They were made from
- I T O Un N
N R D rO INTRODUCTlON
municate, intercourse, mix, join." This leap in meaning is characters into available selections of written Korean . The
comprehensible to anyone who has watched old Korean vocabulary words accompanying each character in this book
gentlemen sit cross legged by the hour and "communicate" can also supply a measure of meaningful context. The 900
with cronies. C htng Ch'iao assigned 372 of his characters to middle school characters in the appendix can be useful
this category. Its characters are best learned by relating their because the most common and frequently used characters
original and derived meanings. appear in this list in the order they a re first learned by Korean
Category Six: Arbitrary Meanings pupils.
Early attention to radicals, the 214 characters under which
Characters of this type also belonged to one of the first four
all others are listed in h anja dictionaries, is recommended for
categories and took on additional denotations, but they sur-
all. Familiarity with the radicals is requisite to the full use
rendered their original meanings altogether. An example
of a dictionary, and many radicals are numbered among the
is jff , a Simple Pictograph of a growing stalk of grain. Other
discrete g raphs which comprise all others. The radicals can
characters possessed the same meaning, but there was no
be found in the radical index of this handbook.
character for "to come," which was pronounced the same as
% . As a homophone, % was pressed into service to denote A student of hacia will find it valuable to develop the habit
of estimating to which of the Six Categories a target character
"to come" and has maintained only that meaning for millenia.
belongs since this will enable him to choose an appropriate
Graphs of this category account for 598 of the characters of
learning strategy for it. Consult the preceding section of the
ChSng Ch'iao. They are best learned arbitrarily.
Introduction for suggestions on learning strategies for each of
t he Six Categories of Chinese characters.
HINTS ON LEARNING I iANJA
The vast majority of characters, perhaps ninety percent of
all h anja, belong to the Phonetic Compound category. Each
There is no royal road to learning characters, but the task
graph of this type m ntains a n internal clue to its own pro-
is not as difficult as it may appear, either. The sheer number
nunciation. One beginning student schooled himself to look
of h anja is daunting; large character dictionaries may run to
for this internal phonetic clue, and, on a quiz, successfully
50,000 entries. But no one need learn anything like this ridic-
matched readings to eleven of thirteen Phonetic Compounds
ulous number, and fewer than 300 discrete graphs compose all
he had not previously encountered. The student will be well
others. A s tudy in Taiwan showed that the most common 400
advised to make it a practice to estimate the reading of a target
characters in use there comprised fully seventy-three percent
character, whether newly-encountered or unrecalled, by
of all written material. (DeFrancis, p age xix.)
assigning to it the pronunciation of its major component
The learning of Chinese characters will unavoidably entail
elements.
some memorization. Homemade flash cards and repeated
A forthcoming handbook by the present editor will contain
writing of characters can be valuable memorization aids. Any-
some 2,000 characters arranged in sets. Each g raph in a set
thing, including h anja , is easier to learn when approached as
contains the same phonetic element and shares an identical
part of a meaningful context. Those already participating in
or similar reading as well. The mnemonic value of a set of
a Korean language program can easily meld specific informa-
characters which both look and sound alike can be appreciated
tion about the 1,800 Basic Characters into their language
by perusing the following chart.
materials. Those undertaking independent study can meld
16
- I T O Un N
N R D rO
lNTRODUCTJON
The 1,800 main entries are numbered consecutively. For 7 ,
Phonetic Compound Set
this number is 238. T hese character numbers are used in cross
references and indices.
To the right of the main character are nine squares in which
its proper stroke order is progressively illustrated. The com-
plete pen-written form of the main character occurs as the
final entry in these squares. I t i s important to compare and
contrast the written and printed forms of the main character
since both will be encountered in reading materials.
The formal definition, or h u n , of the main character occurs
in the upper left corner of the area following the writing
models. The h un for the sample character is 2 x 1 . This is
followed to the right by English definitions of the main char-
EXPLANATION OF A SAMPLE CHARACI'ER ENTRY
acter and by i ts reading, or u'm, i n boldface h angiil. I n the
T he character entry below is typical of the 1 ,800 in A G uide sample entry, this iim i s xi. T he h un a nd iim a re ordinarily
said together as a verbal means of identifying a character.
t o K orean Characters.
Sample voc3bulary words comprise the remainder of the
Sample Entry entry:These were selected on the basis of frequency of use in
the language. Usually, t hree such words are included in an
,'
' 4
113 9 x 1 character, letter entry. The hanja typeface used for sample words is the
P=- stylized variation increasingly common in published material.
*? E z character, letter, writing
@7
17 9x1
Sino-Koreancharacters, Compare and contrast these with the main character typeface
Chinese characters
in an entry.
4 zd
?$8, character dictionary
'f- 3 A G uide to Korean Characters i s designed to aid in learn-
ing hangiil and hania . As a mini-dictionary, its English def-
238
,
initions are not exhaustive. For the convenience of the reader
T he main character of the sample entry, 2 , i s one of the and to exploit limited space, many English definitions appear
in verbal, adjectival or adverbial form even though Korean
Basic Hania taught in a11 Korean secondary schools. It appears
referents may occur only as nouns.
first in a large-type, slightly-abbreviated form common in
English definitions were purposely i nserted between hanja
published material. In the box beneath the main character is
entries and their hangiil readings in order to cause the eye of
listed the radical under which it can be found in a character
the reader to encounter first hanja a nd then its English mean-
dictionary. This radical is given in its unabbreviated form,
ing before coming to pronunciation. This arrangement may
while it may appear in the main character in its common,
facilitate the learning process by obliging the reader to relate
abbreviated form. (A chart of abbreviated radicals appears
form and meaning for milliseconds before dealing with pro-
on page 3 48.) The number to the right of the radical indicates
nunciation.
the number of strokes in the non-radical portion of the main
character, datum that is vital when using a hanja dictionary.
- INTRODUCTION
INTROWCTION
The Rules of Stroke Order
WRITING CHARACI'ERS
Two basic rules govern stroke order.
A general rule of writing is to make the graphs of uniform
1 . Top to bottom.
size no matter how simple or complex they may be. Hanja are
listed in character dictionaries in ways inextricably related to
stroke count. (See How to Use a Character Dictionary, p.347.)
A character must be written, therefore, with strokes of con-
stant shape set down in unvarying order. Details regarding
stroke type and stroke order are provided below, but the
reader will doubtless find the writing models accompanying
each character in the text to be a more practical calligraphic
guide.
Types of Strokes
2 . Left to right.
The following chart illustrates eighteen types of strokes
used in writing characters. The samples are done in brush
style, but the principles also apply to pen calligraphy. Gen-
erally, perpendicular strokes are made from top to bottom,
while horizontal strokes are made from left to right. Even
when it includes an angle, a stroke is written without lifting
pen from paper. I
Seven auxiliary rules also control the order of strokes.
Types of Strokes 3. ~ orizontal trokes usually are written first when they
s
I
cross perpendicular ones.
m
j
4. Sometimes the reverse is true.
- l NTR0WCnON
9 . A piercing horizontal stroke is written last.
5. A center stroke is written first, then the left and final-
GLOSSARY
ly the right.
Basic Characters. Basic Characters are the 1,800 hanja
taught by order of the Ministry of Education since 1972 in all
Korean middle and high schools. Their formal name is "Basic
Characters for Use in Classical Korean Instruction" (hanmun
kyoylakyong kich'o hanja).
Basic H anja . See Basic Characters.
6 . An enclosure precedes its contents.
Chinese Characters. See Six Categories of Chinese Char-
acters.
Classical Korean. Classical Korean (hanmun) is classical
Chinese used by Koreans as their written language for more
than 1,500 years.
H angiil. Hangu'l is the modern name for the Korean
alphabet promulgated in 1446 but not widely used until the
present century.
H anja . See Sino-Korean Characters.
Ideograph. An ideograph is a symbol representing an
7 . Diagonals running to the left precede diagonals flow- object or an idea but not the sound associated with that object
ing to the right.
or idea in spoken language.
Polysynthetic . Polysynthesism is the grammatical practice
in Korean of combining word elements into a single word that
can be the equivalent of phrases or even a sentence in English.
Phonetic Compound. One of the Six Categories of Chinese
characters, Phonetic Compounds comprise some ninety
percent of all characters. They are semi-ideographic and semi-
phonetic.
Reading. - The i im, or pronunciation, of a character is its
8. A piercing perpendicular-strokeis written last.
reading.
Semantic Element. A semantic element is that part of a
Phonetic Compound, usually one-half the total character,
which provides a hint to the general meaning of the compound.
- INTRODV(;TION
Simple Compounds. One of the Six Categories of Chinese
characters, Simple Compounds were formed from two ele-
ments whose combined meanings provide a clue to the deno-
tation of the compound. They are ideographic.
Simple Diagrams. One of the Six Categories of Chinese
characters, Simple Diagrams depict relationships for which
a picture cannot readily be drawn.
BASIC CHARACTERS
THE
Simple Pictographs. One of the Six Categories of Chinese
characters, Simple Pictographs are drawings of objects. They
were the first characters fabricated by the ancient Chinese.
Sino-Korean Characters. Chinese characters as they are
used in the Korean language.
Six Categories of Chinese Characters. A traditional
classification of Chinese characters into six types accordmg
to how they were originally fabricated or later accrued mean-
ing. The Six Categories are Simple Pictographs, Simple Dia-
grams, Simple Compounds; Phonetic Compounds, Derived
Meanings and Arbitrary Meanings.
- 1and 2 strokes
seventy years
1
4
- 2 strokes
2 strokes
- I 3 strokes
3 strokes
P5
7 4 till now, up to the present
k His Royal Majesty
k fi$f@ high society
kg senior official
3 die, perish; be lost; absent rb-
n
&
#t flee, run away, escape
i
9 o,F
@ -t- b e destroyed, collapse, fall
99
1& defect, seek foreign refuge
2
man, gentleman;
T A common, ordinary
A R in g eneral, as a rule
A '8 mediocre; common, ordinary % .'k
n 1
a rooming house 26
20
7 n fl 3 ?
!
knife blade, knife edge
4.
k a
" 2 a pil1;abullet
)
A, a" $q!
& A bladed weapons;
h% pill, pellet ,
t
bayonets; weapons
h @1 @1
pill, pellet 4
!&a xioJ
$ XJ kill oneself with a dagger
$$h bullet; projectile; shell
n 1
2
27
21
- 3 strokes
T #9i a thousand years
f- lf. a thousand characters
3,e, one's own child;
a ?
population; inhabitants 0
J
kti4 land, real estate
fB
* degree of kinship
f nature of the soil
+gill short dramatical
civil engineering
f
performance; skit
officer; soldier
novel, story; fiction
/J\g retail selling
it$ gentleman, man of honor
~ I J \ large and small; size,
hg fields and mountains
+&
p TI] evening edition
4 morning and evening; E"?
0 breakfast and dinner
-
32
4
3
$,
- big. great
A, f 1
3 stream bank, riverside
4@
very, very much, greatly
CLl)ll mountains and rivers
d +g
major portion, large part
A@ G I*
college, university
A 0
33
- 4 strokes
3 strokes
Branches; snake
9x1
Ze 42d of the 60 binary terms
of the sexagenary cycle
zek#d literati purge of 1545 +A~A)#
34
?% intervene, meddle in
+4
reclaim land by drainage
T 0
44 49
#+ g
red, cinnabar; pill
3
1
7
9 a bow
7
Re cJ%
9% %$ autumnal tints,
archery,bowmanship
3S-f
3% red and yellow
archer, bowman
94
A $ colors; red and green
.?
-
--!+fl#L\ fidelity; a sincere heart ?J%Q>J
3 3
0
50
45
- 4 strokes
4 strokes
12 mercy; beneficence
et cetera; thus and thus,
woman
I4 @ the substance, details;
contents
I4 a< the interior, the inner
2~ 39%rimpartial, fair; public
/ / 3
2 oyal princess oT
37
af$$R ivil servant, government % y%
c
-2
1 employee
%%
public opinion; fair
n 2
criticism
61
L A 4 R,!
1
3( +
i )
six
1
I,
+4
Pi
June
I\ +
2- .
sixty
f ;;
A 9 now, the present time /\ Q4
the Six Categories of
f; 84
Chinese Characters
n 2
62
- 4 strokes 4 strokes
I48 a year of famine
wicked, bad
a poor crop
f
04 % difficulty, distressed
JE@ misfortune, bad luck
#$E unexpected misfortune
ft
@ b e immediate, real
I calamity, disaster
ZW mention, say
& l6ga forget-me-not flower Q
TnJZ propagate, disseminate
ad
surprise, surprisingly
,
enough the state examination
"
9 2
67
1k :
, 4.
3 transform, change
g i k *deteriorate,aggravate, %L%)
* gj opposition, resistance;
worsen
i Lb chemistry "
;
F
ik inspire, influence 7J3)
t 2
68
39
nguon tai.lieu . vn
