Hangul Letter Ae

It is the Korean vowel ae; some speakers pronounce it much like ㅔ.

Hangul's first recorded notice dates to 1443, and its explanatory book, the Hunminjeongeum ("Correct Sounds for the Instruction of the People"), appeared in 1446. Hangul builds many vowels by combining a small set of basic shapes.

ㅐ joins ㅏ and ㅣ. In early Hangul, it represented /aj/, roughly a vowel moving from an open "ah" toward "ee"; its modern value is a short vowel. The component letters explain the design, not a sound you should pronounce separately.

How do I type ㅐ?

On the Dubeolsik Korean layout, press O in Hangul mode.

Switch your Korean input method from Latin or English to Hangul first. On Dubeolsik, O produces ㅐ and Shift+O produces ㅒ. After a consonant, the input method combines the vowel into a syllable block.

The standalone ㅐ is a compatibility-jamo form; the corresponding medial vowel is ᅢ. A Korean input method normally uses that medial form when composing a syllable, so the isolated character and the vowel inside a block can look different while serving the same role.

Why do ㅐ and ㅔ sound alike?

Some Seoul Korean speakers no longer distinguish them consistently in speech.

The spellings remain separate, and the spoken merger is incomplete. A 2023 study found that the distinction varied with syllable position and speaker group. In careful writing, use the vowel required by the word's spelling.