Chitueum Chieuch

It marked one category of Chinese first-consonant sounds in old Hangul. ᅔ is the chitueum chieuch, a leading jamo—the consonant at the start of a syllable—in the 치두음 (“tooth-head sound”) class. This was a specialized part of historical Hangul, Korea’s writing system, used to transcribe Chinese initial sounds.

The wider Hangul script was devised in 1443, with an explanatory text published in 1446. A 1459 edition of 월인석보, a Korean Buddhist text, distinguishes 치두음 from the paired 정치음 category. It links ᅔ to the Chinese initial category 清; its exact historical sound is reconstructed in different ways. Later changes in Korean sound categories mean these old labels do not map neatly to present-day Korean pronunciation.

How do I type ᅔ?

Select it in a dedicated old-Hangul character picker. As of 2026, the National Institute of Korean Language offers a character grid for old Hangul because these letters are difficult to enter with a standard keyboard.

ᅔ is a leading jamo—the consonant at the start of a syllable. In an archaic Hangul syllable block, it can join a following vowel jamo; it is not part of the modern precomposed Korean syllable set.

Is ᅔ the same as ㅊ?

No. Modern ㅊ is a different character for contemporary Korean. ᄎ is the modern leading-jamo form, while ㅊ is its compatibility form. ᅔ belongs to a separate historical transcription system, so substituting either modern form removes the old sound-category distinction.