Hangul syllable Sog

Usually “inside”; the phrase tells you which sense.

In Korean, 속 can mean the inside of an object or place, the stomach, or a person's inner thoughts. The phrase tells you which sense fits: 가방 속 means “inside a bag,” 속이 아파 means “my stomach hurts,” and 속을 털어놓다 means “open up about what's on your mind.”

In 속도 (“speed”), 속 represents the Chinese-derived element 速, not the Korean word for “inside.” So translating every 속 as “inside” misses the meaning of compounds like this.

How is 속 formed in Hangeul?

It combines an initial consonant, a vowel, and a final consonant.

Hangeul was designed to write Korean speech. Its first record dates to 1443; in 1446, the Hunminjeongeum, a book explaining the new script, set out its purpose and design.

The separate Hangul letters ᄉ (initial consonant), ᅩ (vowel), and ᆨ (final consonant) make up 속.

How do I type 속?

With Korean input active, press t, h, r in order.

On the Korean Dubeolsik keyboard layout, those keys supply ㅅ, ㅗ, and ㄱ, and the input method assembles them into 속. With English input active, the same keys produce Latin letters.

Unicode treats precomposed 속 and the sequence ᄉ + ᅩ + ᆨ as equivalent spellings. The compatibility forms ㅅ + ㅗ + ㄱ show the same spelling pieces, but are separate characters, not that equivalent sequence.