fsymbols
🔍
Loading symbols…
››
샘

hangul syllable saem

Hangul Syllable Saem

5337/11172

샘 is a Korean Hangul syllable, not an emoji; the word around it decides the meaning. It can name a spring, envy, a gland, or the casual short form of 선생님 (“teacher”). The water sense is recorded in 1446, while the envy sense has a separate 1449 record as 새옴.

Text symbol

What 샘 means

The word around 샘 decides which noun you are reading.

As spring water, 샘 names water rising from the ground and the spot where you draw it. 샘물 keeps that spring sense and 샘터 names the place; 샘이 나다 and 샘내다 mean envy has flared up; in anatomy, 샘 means a gland, as in 침샘.

The teacher reading is a shortening of 선생님, “teacher”. The spring and envy senses have separate old spellings and histories, so treat them as different words that happen to share one modern syllable.

When someone sends 샘, what should I read?

Context outranks the isolated glyph.

A message with 샘 alone is under-specified, so ask for the surrounding word or sentence. The contexts table below separates spring, envy, gland, and teacher readings.

It is a text glyph, not emoji artwork. Your font draws its shape, but a different font never turns it into a new meaning.

Can I call a teacher 샘?

Yes, but it is casual; use 선생님 for respect.

In 2024 guidance, the National Institute of Korean Language described 샘 as a shortened form of 선생님, with 쌤 as the stronger slangy form, and recommended 선생님 when respectful address is intended. To a teacher or unfamiliar adult, write the full form.

The teacher sense is casual; the spring, envy, and gland senses are neutral.

Use 선생님 when you need to sound respectful to a teacher.

Part of the collection

가
Korean Syllables (Hangul Characters)
Explore 2,342 more →

Who writes 샘

Loading…

What it means when someone sends it to you

5 readings

Under-specified; ask for the surrounding word.

Don't confuse it with

1
쌤
Hangul Syllable Ssaem
샘 vs 쌤: both can abbreviate 선생님; 쌤 is the stronger slangy form, while 샘 also means spring, envy, and gland.

Combination ideas

3
spring water
to feel jealous or envious
to show or act on envy

Questions people ask

1

Why does 샘 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.

How to type or find 샘

Also called
saem
Search it as
샘 · spring · envy · gland · teacher · 샘물 · 샘터 · 샘내다
Shows up in
Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
Windows (Word)
⎇Alt+XType C0D8, then AltX to get 샘.
Windows
⊞Win+Rrun charmap for the full table, or use the emoji picker's Ω symbols tab (Win .).
macOS
⌃Control+⌘Command+␣SpaceOpen the character viewer and search “hangul syllable saem”.
Linux
⎈Ctrl+⇧Shift+UType c0d8, then Enter or Space.
HTML
샘
CSS
\C0D8
Korean input
Switch to Korean input, then type ㅅ ㅐ ㅁ to compose 샘.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
샘
HTML hex
샘
CSS content
content: "\C0D8";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%EC%83%98
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
3
UTF-8 bytes

A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.

Families this belongs to

2

Chinese, Japanese & Korean121,370 symbols

ᄀᄁᄂᄃᄄᄅᄆᄇᄈᄉᄊᄋ

Korean syllables11,623 symbols

ᄀᄁᄂᄃᄄᄅᄆᄇᄈᄉᄊᄋ