Hangul syllable Seub

By itself, 습 gives a syllable, not a full translation. The Korean vowel ㅡ is a close, unrounded “u” sound; romanized spellings include seup and seub. The full word supplies the meaning: 연습 is practice or rehearsal, and 복습 is review of material already learned. If a message contains only 습, ask for its surrounding word or sentence.

Hangul was created in 1443 to make Korean easier to write and read than it was through Chinese characters; a book explaining the script's purpose and principles appeared in 1446. Those dates describe Hangul's history, not this syllable's first appearance.

Why does 습 have different meanings?

Different Hanja roots share this Hangul spelling. Hanja are Chinese characters used in Korean. The syllable 습 corresponds to Korean readings of 習, 濕, and 襲, which belong to different word families. For example, 習 appears in study words, while 濕 appears in moisture vocabulary; their meanings are not interchangeable.

One historical Korean use is 습 (襲), a Joseon-era funeral rite involving washing, grooming, and dressing the deceased. This specialized historical word is not the default reading of a short modern message.

How do I type 습?

Type ㅅ, then ㅡ, then ㅂ with Korean input enabled. On a Dubeolsik QWERTY keyboard, press T, M, then Q, without Shift; the input method combines the letters. If Latin letters appear, switch to Korean input.

Unicode also treats 습 and its sequence of three joining Hangul letters as canonically equivalent: they represent the same text. The standalone keyboard forms ㅅ, ㅡ, and ㅂ are a different sequence, so pasting them does not guarantee a precomposed 습.