Hangul Syllable Oe

외 has no one-word English meaning; in Korean it adds outside, external or foreign country sense. You meet it in 외국 and 그 외. Its ㅚ vowel often sounds like 웨.

Text symbol

What 외 means

Often sounds like [we]; [ø] survives in some speech. That is why 외 can sound like 웨 with no spelling change.

The word decides the sense: 외국 uses Chinese character 外 for foreign, while 그 외 and 외에 mark what falls outside a list. Hangul was recorded in 1443 and explained in 1446 as accessible Korean writing; ㅚ was once a falling diphthong, now often merged toward ㅙ and ㅞ.

Neutral Korean text, not an emoji reaction.

Never translate 외 alone; read the whole word.

Part of the collection

가

Korean Syllables (Hangul Characters)

Who writes 외

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What it means when someone sends it to you

2 readings

Going abroad; 외 means foreign.

Don't confuse it with

웨

Hangul Syllable We

Same sound in most speech, different vowel and spelling; check the word.

Questions people ask

Why does 외 show as a box on some devices?

Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.