What 억 means
Digits make it a number unit; an exclamation makes it a grunt.
The number sense comes from the Hanja character 億, a Chinese character used in Korean that also means one hundred million. As an exclamation, 억 imitates a grunt of shock or disgust.
The Korean alphabet, Hangul, was created in 1443 to make Korean easier to write; a guide explaining its design and use appeared in 1446.
What it means when someone sends it to you
2 readingsAfter digits
A Korean number unit meaning 100 million.
As a sudden exclamation
A grunt expressing shock or disgust.
Questions people ask
1Why does 억 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 억
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType C5B5, then Alt+X to get 억.
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 eog”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType c5b5, then Enter or Space.
HTML
억CSS
\C5B5Korean keyboard
Type ㅇ, then ㅓ, then ㄱ; the Korean input method combines them into 억.
Unicode jamo
Unicode also encodes the equivalent sequence 억; software without Hangul composition may show its parts separately.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
억
HTML hex
억
CSS content
content: "\C5B5";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%EC%96%B5
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.