Hangul syllable Ddeul

A yard or courtyard beside a home. In Korean, 뜰 names open outdoor space attached to a home; “yard” is usually the best quick translation.

For “뜰 vs 마당,” the meanings overlap: 마당 usually means a home's general yard; 뜰 can suggest a planted space, while 정원 is the more direct word for a garden.

Location words form compounds: 앞뜰 means the front yard, and 뒤뜰 the back yard.

Where did 뜰 come from?

It is recorded in a Korean text from the 15th century. A Middle Korean form appears in Worin seokbo, a Buddhist text, in 1459; the spelling developed into today's 뜰 over time.

Hangul was devised for writing Korean under King Sejong; its creation is dated to 1443, and an explanatory book appeared in 1446. Each written syllable sits in a block: 뜰 combines the initial consonant ᄄ, the vowel ᅳ, and the final consonant ᆯ.