Hangul syllable nah

낳 usually appears as part of 낳다, “to give birth” or “produce.”

With a baby or animal, 낳다 means to give birth; with an egg, to lay it. With a result, problem, or conflict as its object, it means “bring about.” It can also describe someone produced by a place or tradition, as in 한국이 낳은 음악가 (“a musician from Korea”).

A lone 낳 is usually the verb stem cut off from its ending, or part of a longer form. Check what follows before assigning it a full meaning.

How is 낳 built?

Hangul joins letters into a single syllable block.

낳 combines ㄴ (starting consonant), ㅏ (vowel), and ㅎ (final consonant). Hangul was devised in 1443 and introduced in the 1446 Hunminjeongeum, a guide to the new letters whose title means “Correct Sounds for the Instruction of the People.” It was designed to make Korean writing more accessible than methods based on Chinese characters. Earlier, Korean writers also adapted Chinese characters to write Korean words and grammar; 이두, 구결, and 향찰 were three such systems. They are part of Hangul’s historical setting, but 낳’s shape is assembled from Korean letters, not copied from a Chinese character.

Why does 낳 sound like 낫?

The final ㅎ stays in writing even when its sound changes.

At the end of a syllable, Korean turns both ㅎ and ㅅ into the same clipped t sound, so 낳 and 낫 can sound alike alone. In 낳다, ㅎ turns the following d sound into a t with a puff of air. Before a vowel, ㅎ is not heard in 낳아 or 낳은; before ㄴ, it changes to an n sound in 낳는. The spelling keeps ㅎ across these forms.