What 베 means
Alone, 베 can mean hemp cloth.
베개 (“pillow”) comes from 베다 (“to rest one’s head”) + -개, a suffix for object names; it is separate from the cloth noun 베.
Hangul, the Korean alphabet, was created in 1443 so Korean could be written more directly than with Chinese characters. Its guidebook, Hunminjeongeum, followed in 1446. 베 joins consonant ㅂ and vowel ㅔ.
What it means when someone sends it to you
2 readingsOnly 베 in a message
A Korean noun for hemp cloth.
베 within 베개
The whole word means “pillow.”
Don't confuse it with
1Questions people ask
1Why does 베 show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
How to type 베
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType BCA0, then Alt+X to get 베.
Windows
Win+Rrun charmap for the full table, or use the emoji picker's Ω symbols tab (Win + .).
macOS
Control+Command+SpaceOpen the character viewer and search “hangul syllable be”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType bca0, then Enter or Space.
HTML
베CSS
\BCA0How to type 베
On a Korean two-set (Dubeolsik) keyboard, type Q then P; the IME forms 베.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
베
HTML hex
베
CSS content
content: "\BCA0";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%EB%B2%A0
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
3
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.