Hangul Syllable Jod

It can echo a vulgar word; context decides. In modern Korean, 좆 is a vulgar word for penis, pronounced the same as 졷. A message containing 졷 can therefore sound obscene even though it uses a different spelling.

The syllable also appears in older Korean writing and is recorded as a nickname for the Korean tech community zod. Those readings need context; a lone message does not tell you which one applies.

What is the difference between 졷 and 좆?

They are separate Hangul syllables with different final letters. 졷 ends in ㄷ; 좆 ends in ㅈ. In Korean, both final letters sound like a short, unreleased “t,” so the spoken forms match even though the spellings do not.

If you mean the vulgar noun, write 좆. The historical and community uses of 졷 have their own contexts.

What did 졷 mean in older Korean writing?

Older texts use 졷 in several contexts, not one fixed sense. In the 1459 Buddhist text Wolinseokbo, 졷 appears inside an older verb meaning “to follow”; the sentence says that the dragons followed along. This is a verb form, not the modern vulgar noun.

A 1574 Korean text, Jahun eonhae, also includes 졷 in an annotation beside the Chinese character 才. In the 17th century, the horse-care manual Magyeong Chojip Eonhae uses 졷 for a horse’s penis in a passage about the foreskin. These records place the syllable in different historical contexts.

In 2026, a community-maintained page for the Korean tech community zod records 졷 as a nickname used by members. That local nickname does not make it a general Korean term.