Hangul syllable Se

세 means “three” before a Korean counter, as in 세 개. In other words it can represent “generation” or “age,” so read the full word or age expression around it.

Text symbol

What 세 means

Before a Korean counter, 세 means “three.” It is the form of the native numeral 셋 used before counting words: 세 개 (three items), 세 명 (three people), and 세 시 (three o’clock).

In 세대, the generation-related 세 comes from 世; the age-counting 세 in 25세 comes from 歲. These are Hanja, Chinese characters used as roots in Korean words.

Does 세 always mean the same thing?

No; the surrounding word or expression decides.

Hangul was devised in 1443 to write Korean sounds and formally promulgated in 1446. A dictionary records native-numeral 세 in the Korean work 용비어천가 in 1447. In 15th-century Korean, 세상 (“world”) was a noun and later also became a small linking word between sentences; that change belongs to 세상 as a whole, not to every 세.

For age, 세 tends toward formal or written use; 살 is the everyday counterpart.

Do not translate every 세 as “three.”

Part of the collection

가

Korean Syllables (Hangul Characters)

Who writes 세

Loading…

What it means when someone sends it to you

3 readings

Three items

Questions people ask

Why does 세 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.