Hangul Syllable Cyaess

On Dubeolsik, press C, Shift+O, then Shift+T in a Korean IME.

Dubeolsik is the common two-set Korean keyboard layout. A Korean input method editor (IME) combines the key presses into a Hangul block in initial-vowel-final order: ㅊ, ㅒ, then ㅆ.

Unicode's canonical decomposed form is 첐: three conjoining jamo, or individual Hangul letters, kept in order. It represents the same syllable as 첐; only the text encoding differs.

What does 첐 mean?

It is a Hangul block encoding one Korean syllable.

Hangul, the Korean writing system, arranges letters into syllable blocks. Jamo are its individual letters. In 첐, ㅊ is the opening consonant, ㅒ the vowel, and ㅆ the final consonant. These parts give the syllable's reading; the Korean word around it supplies its meaning.

King Sejong introduced Hangul in 1443. The book 훈민정음, published in 1446, explained the writing system's purpose and how its letters work. Before Hangul, Korean writing drew on Chinese characters, which did not map neatly to Korean speech. The initial-vowel-final block structure is part of Hangul's history.