▶ Watch the 1-minute version: This alphabet claimed you could learn it in one morning
Why Korea needed new letters
Before Hangul, Koreans spoke Korean but wrote in Chinese characters, a different language with thousands of signs. King Sejong's own preface puts the problem plainly: the sounds of our language differ from China's and do not match its writing, so many ordinary people cannot put what they want to say into writing.
In the winter of 1443, Sejong created a set of 28 letters. Three years later, in 1446, a group of scholars published a manual explaining them, the Hunminjeongeum Haerye.
The famous claim
The afterword of that manual, written by the scholar Jeong In-ji, makes the promise that gives this page its title: "A wise person can learn it before the morning is over, and even a slow one can learn it within ten days."
It sounds like an advertisement, but the design backs it up.
Letters drawn from the mouth
The consonants are pictures of the organs that make the sounds. According to the 1446 manual:
- ㄱ (g/k) shows the root of the tongue blocking the throat.
- ㅁ (m) shows the shape of the mouth.
Other consonants are built from these basic shapes by adding strokes, so related sounds look related. The vowels start from three strokes standing for heaven (a dot), earth (a flat line) and a person (a standing line), combined to make the rest.
The letters are then stacked into square syllable blocks: 한 is ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ. Once you know the pieces, you can sound out words you have never seen.
What is left today
The original 1446 manual survives and was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World register in 1997. Of the 28 original letters, Korean today uses 24. Four fell out of use over the centuries.
Can you really learn it in a morning? Learning to read the letters aloud in a few hours is realistic for many people. Understanding what you read is a longer project. Try matching letters to sounds in our Korean word puzzle.
FAQ
Who invented Hangul?
King Sejong of Joseon created the 28 letters in 1443. A manual explaining them, the Hunminjeongeum Haerye, was published in 1446.
How long does it take to learn Hangul?
The 1446 manual claimed a wise person could learn it in a morning and a slow learner in ten days. Many learners today can read the letters aloud within a few hours.
How many letters does Hangul have?
Sejong created 28. Modern Korean uses 24 of them.
Sources
- Annals of the Joseon Dynasty: Sejong, year 28, 9th month, 29th day (Korean/Classical Chinese)
- Woori History Net: afterword of the Hunminjeongeum Haerye (Korean)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: "Hunminjeongeum" (훈민정음, Korean)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: "Jejahae", how the letters were made (제자해, Korean)
- UNESCO Memory of the World: Hunminjeongum Manuscript
- National Institute of Korean Language: Korean spelling rules, article 4 (Korean)
Written by the Korea in Time team. Each fact above is checked against the sources listed. Found a mistake? Tell us.
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