Hangul syllable Jo

It is the Korean syllable “jo,” not one fixed English word. A lone 조 can belong to different Korean words or names, so read the full expression around it. In 말하는 조로, it marks the manner or tone of speaking. The Korean family name 조 is written as Cho or Jo in Latin letters; those spellings refer to the Hangul name, not different meanings.

Where does 조 fit in Hangul's history?

Hangul was devised in 1443 and explained in 1446. Hangul is the Korean alphabet; the Hunminjeongeum is a guide to the writing system. Earlier practices such as Idu, Gugyeol, and Hyangchal adapted Chinese characters to write Korean and were difficult to use. They belong to Hangul's history, not the parts that form 조. Hangul gained official status in Korea in 1894; these dates describe the writing system, while 조 is one syllable written with it.

Why is 조 written as one block?

It combines two Hangul letters into one syllable block. The consonant ㅈ and vowel ㅗ are individual Hangul letters, called jamo, that compose 조. In digital text, the syllable may be stored as one precomposed character or as a sequence of conjoining jamo. A font can render both sequences alike even though they are encoded differently.