Hangul Syllable Mak

It records one Korean syllable; the surrounding word carries the definition. Its written parts are ㅁ, ㅏ, and ㅋ, the consonant at the bottom of the block.

Hangul was created under King Sejong in 1443 and explained in Hunminjeongeum, a guide published in 1446. Earlier Korean writing relied on Chinese characters, including Idu, a system that adapted those characters to Korean words and grammar. Hangul offered a system better suited to Korean speech and aimed to make reading and writing easier to learn.

In the 15th century, words beginning with ㅋ were relatively few; that vocabulary expanded in the 16th century and later through compounds and loanwords. This is the history of ㅋ in Korean words, not a special meaning for 맠.

How do I type 맠?

In Korean input mode, type a-k-z on the standard two-set layout. The a key produces ㅁ, k produces ㅏ, and z produces ㅋ. The Korean input method joins them as you type; if akz appears on screen, Korean input is not active.

Why does 맠 look different in apps?

Apps may display one syllable block or its component jamo differently. Unicode can store 맠 as a precomposed block or as a sequence of conjoining jamo, the component letters of Hangul. Fonts and text normalization affect how that sequence is arranged on screen.