Hangul syllable meon

It means “far” or “distant”; the phrase tells you what is far.

The dictionary form is 멀다 (meolda, “to be far”); 먼 is its form before a noun. 먼 곳 and 먼 길 describe physical distance, while 먼 과거, 먼 미래, and 먼 훗날 shift the distance into time. The same form can describe a distant relationship or something far from a standard.

Read the noun or construction that follows before choosing a translation: it tells you whether 먼 refers to a place, a time, a relationship, or distance from a reference point.

Where does 먼’s history begin?

Its history belongs to Hangul, the Korean writing system.

Hangul’s earliest recorded creation is in 1443, and its explanatory book, Hunminjeongeum, appeared in 1446. The script was designed to make Korean easier to write and learn than methods that adapted Chinese characters for Korean.

Earlier Korean writing also used Chinese-character adaptations such as Idu, Gugyeol, and Hyangchal. Historical work compares the 1446 explanatory book with the ’Phags-pa writing system and Chinese traditions for classifying speech sounds. Those comparisons concern Hangul’s design; they do not make 먼 a separate ancient sign.

How do I type 먼 on a Korean keyboard?

On a Korean 2-set keyboard, enter ㅁ, then ㅓ, then ㄴ.

With Korean input on, the method combines an initial consonant, vowel, and final consonant into one syllable block as you type. With Korean input off, the same physical keys produce Latin letters.

Unicode can also represent the block as three Hangul jamo: ᄆ (initial consonant), ᅥ (vowel), and ᆫ (final consonant). The keyboard uses the familiar forms ㅁ, ㅓ, and ㄴ. Fonts can change the block’s proportions and spacing, but not the syllable’s reading.