What 초 means
Context decides; 초 alone is not one English word.
Its meaning comes from the whole word: 10초 is ten seconds, 3월 초 is early March, 식초 is vinegar, and 초고속 means ultra-fast. A lone 초 is incomplete; ask for the surrounding text.
Hangul was created in 1443 and explained in 1446 to write Korean without Chinese characters. As of 2026, no checked source gives a first surviving use or meaning history for this exact block. Structurally, ㅊ is the opening sound and ㅗ is the vowel.
What it means when someone sends it to you
5 readings10초
Ten seconds
3월 초
The beginning of March
식초 넣어
Vinegar; add it
초고속
Ultra-fast
초 켜 줘
A candle; light one
Questions people ask
1Why does 초 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 초
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType CD08, then Alt+X to get 초.
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 co”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType cd08, then Enter or Space.
HTML
초CSS
\CD082-set Korean keyboard
Switch to Korean input, then press C for ㅊ and H for ㅗ; the IME composes 초.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
초
HTML hex
초
CSS content
content: "\CD08";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%EC%B4%88
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.