Hangul syllable 땝

Use Korean 2-set input: press Shift+E, O, then Q.

Those keys enter the starting consonant ㄸ, vowel ㅐ and final consonant ㅂ in order; the Korean input method assembles them into one block. If the parts stay separate, Korean input may be off, or the app may be showing the component letters without shaping them into a syllable.

The sequence is specific to the Korean 2-set layout. Another Korean layout may put the same components on different keys.

What does 땝 mean by itself?

A bare syllable cannot tell you which word or tone was intended.

Read it as Korean text: ㄸ, ㅐ and ㅂ make the syllable, but the surrounding Korean word supplies its lexical meaning. For a one-character message, ask what word or input was intended before guessing at tone.

Why is 땝 a single block?

Hangul writes each syllable by arranging its letters inside one block.

Hangul is the writing system used for Korean; its component letters are called jamo. It was created in 1443 and explained in the 1446 book Hunminjeongeum so people could write Korean without literacy in Chinese characters. Earlier Korean writing adapted Chinese characters in systems such as Idu, Gugyeol and Hyangchal.

Historically, ㅐ represented a vowel glide until the 16th century; after the 17th century, it represented a single vowel, close to the “e” in the English word “bed.” On computers, 땝 can be stored as one precomposed character or as separate jamo; software with Hangul shaping support displays the separate form as one block too.