Hangul syllable 깨

The noun 깨 means sesame.

In 깨다, it belongs to a verb that can mean “wake up” or “break.” Hangul is the Korean alphabet, whose letters form square syllable blocks; 깨 combines ᄁ, its tense opening consonant, and ᅢ, its vowel. Hangul was devised in 1443 and officially introduced in 1446 so Korean speech could be written alphabetically; earlier Korean writing often relied on Chinese characters. An ancestor of the sesame word appears in the 15th century; the word is recorded independently in the 16th century, and the spelling settles as 깨 in the 19th century.