Hangul Syllable Jibs

It marks the possessive form of 집, meaning “of the house.”

The Du Shi Eonhae, a Korean translation and commentary on poems by the Chinese poet Du Fu, uses 짒 in two phrases: one describes a poor house’s daughter, another the people of a house.

Here 짒 is grammatical, not decorative: it links a house to something belonging to it. It also appears in older compounds 집아비 and 집어미, literally “house’s father” and “house’s mother,” source forms behind later words for husband and wife.

Why did 짒 become 지?

The ㅂ dropped first; the linking ㅅ disappeared later.

The spelling chain is 짒 → 짓 → 지. In the 15th century, the ㅂ in 짒 dropped; the historical source quotes 짓 in texts from 1447 and 1459. From the 16th century, the linking ㅅ began disappearing from 짓아비 and 짓어미, yielding 지아비 and 지어미.

The 짓 forms had disappeared by the 20th century. In 1933, a unified Korean orthography incorporated many patterns that had developed naturally in premodern spelling. 지아비 and 지어미 shifted from plain words for husband and wife to deferential terms for one’s own spouse.

Is 짒 a modern emoji?

No; it is a historical Hangul text character.

A font draws it as Hangul text rather than emoji artwork, so its shape can vary by font.

As of 2026, 짒 has no established one-character chat meaning. If it arrives alone, use the surrounding Korean or ask the sender before assigning it a mood.