Hangul Syllable Heub

In words based on 吸, 흡 carries the idea of taking in. 흡수 means absorption, 흡입 means inhalation, and 흡연 means smoking. Hanja are Chinese characters used in Korean. The whole word gives the precise meaning, and 흡 can also represent other Hanja readings.

How is 흡 connected to Korean writing history?

흡 is a Hangul block built from letters for one syllable. Hangul, first called Hunminjeongeum, was created in 1443 to write Korean speech more directly; writing Korean with Chinese characters was difficult and left literacy out of reach for many. A book explaining the script's design appeared in 1446. The Korean reading 흡 with a tone mark, 흡〮, is recorded in Hunmong Jahoe, an early Chinese-character teaching book, in 1527.

The block is assembled from ㅎ (initial consonant), ㅡ (vowel), and ㅂ (final consonant). The Hanja 吸 is read 흡 in Korean words based on Chinese-character vocabulary. Their connection is linguistic: 흡 is a Hangul syllable block, while 吸 is a separate Chinese character.

How do I type 흡?

With a Korean IME, enter ㅎ, then ㅡ, then ㅂ. The input method combines an initial consonant, a vowel, and a final consonant into one block.

Software can store the same syllable as a precomposed block or a decomposed Jamo sequence. Unicode normalization can convert between those forms; whether a decomposed sequence displays as one block also depends on the app and font.