What 굽 means
Context decides whether 굽 means hoof, heel, base, or a verb stem.
In 발굽, 굽 is an animal’s hoof; in 구두 굽, a shoe heel; and in 그릇의 굽, the base under a vessel. In 굽다, it appears in verbs for cooking, firing pottery, making salt, burning a CD, and bending. A lone 굽 cannot tell you which reading fits.
Hangul became practical Korean writing
Hangul was developed in 1443 and its explanation was published in 1446 to help people who struggled to write Korean with Chinese characters. Idu, Gugyeol, and Hyangchal were other Korean writing methods that adapted Chinese characters. Hangul spread from religious texts to practical and public writing.
Neutral in Korean words; a lone block needs context.
Don’t assume heel: 발굽 means hoof, and a vessel’s 굽 is its base.
What it means when someone sends it to you
4 readingsQuestions people ask
1Why does 굽 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 굽
굽\AD7DCodes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.