Hangul syllable gi

By itself, 기 has no fixed meaning; context decides. It is a Hangul syllable. Revised Romanization writes it gi; McCune–Reischauer writes it ki. The block combines ㄱ and ㅣ.

As the Korean ending -기, it attaches to a verb or adjective stem to make a noun-like expression: 먹기 means “eating” or “to eat.” Elsewhere, 기 may be the Korean reading of Hanja (Chinese characters used in Korean) 氣, “spirit” or “energy,” or 旗, “flag.” These are distinct words that share the same Hangul syllable.

Why was Hangul created?

It gave Korean a writing system built for its sounds and grammar. Before Hangul, Korean was written with Chinese characters and systems such as Idu, which adapted those characters to record Korean words and grammar. These methods were difficult to learn and did not fit Korean neatly.

King Sejong led Hangul’s creation, recorded in 1443. In 1446, the Hunminjeongeum publication explained the new writing system’s purpose and design.

Someone sent just 기—what should I do?

Ask for the whole word or sentence. An isolated syllable does not reveal whether it ends a verb form or which word is meant. Use the surrounding Korean to tell; do not pick a gloss from 기 alone.