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.

Decomposition and naming algorithm 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. Let S = (code point of a character from U+AC00 to U+D7A3, in decimal) − 44032 44032 is 0xAC00 in decimal. The index number of its initial consonant is S / 588 vowel is (S % 588) / 28 final consonant is S % 28 ( is the integer quotient of x divided by y; is the remainder of x / y, also known as the modulo operator)

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 numberInitial consonantVowelFinal consonantDecompositionNameDecompositionNameDecompositionName0ᄀU+1100GᅡU+1161A(null)1ᄁU+1101GGᅢU+1162AEᆨU+11A8G2ᄂU+1102NᅣU+1163YAᆩU+11A9GG3ᄃU+1103DᅤU+1164YAEᆪU+11AAGS4ᄄU+1104DDᅥU+1165EOᆫU+11ABN5ᄅU+1105RᅦU+1166EᆬU+11ACNJ6ᄆU+1106MᅧU+1167YEOᆭU+11ADNH7ᄇU+1107BᅨU+1168YEᆮU+11AED8ᄈU+1108BBᅩU+1169OᆯU+11AFL9ᄉU+1109SᅪU+116AWAᆰU+11B0LG10ᄊU+110ASSᅫU+116BWAEᆱU+11B1LM11ᄋU+110B(null)ᅬU+116COEᆲU+11B2LB12ᄌU+110CJᅭU+116DYOᆳU+11B3LS13ᄍU+110DJJᅮU+116EUᆴU+11B4LT14ᄎU+110ECᅯU+116FWEOᆵU+11B5LP15ᄏU+110FKᅰU+1170WEᆶU+11B6LH16ᄐU+1110TᅱU+1171WIᆷU+11B7M17ᄑU+1111PᅲU+1172YUᆸU+11B8B18ᄒU+1112HᅳU+1173EUᆹU+11B9BS19 ᅴU+1174YIᆺU+11BAS20 ᅵU+1175IᆻU+11BBSS21 ᆼU+11BCNG22 ᆽU+11BDJ23 ᆾU+11BEC24 ᆿU+11BFK25 ᇀU+11C0T26 ᇁU+11C1P27 ᇂU+11C2H

Example Hangul syllabic block: 쇒 (U+C1D2, decimal 49618) S = 49618 − 44032 = 5586 The index number of its initial consonant is 5586 / 588 = 9 vowel is (5586 % 588) / 28 = 10 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"

Block

History

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.

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

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 Count UTC ID L2 ID WG2 ID Document 2.0 U+AC00..D7A3 11,172 N767 N848 N1158 N1170 N1198 N1199 N1203 N1209 txt) N1285 doc) N1331 N1332 N1391 N1353 N1537 N1561 N1570 N1603 doc) N1942 html, doc) N2018 N2003 N2119 N2120 N2564

References

See also