ㄱ — giyeok
Korean consonant · /k/, [ɡ] between voiced sounds
ㄱ is /k/, [ɡ] between voiced sounds — between the g in go and the k in skin. It appears in 20 cells of the syllable chart, 13 of which have audio you can play here. 93 of the 568 words in the dictionary behind this site contain it.
| Name | giyeok (기역) |
|---|---|
| Sound | /k/, [ɡ] between voiced sounds |
| Romanized | g at the start, k at the end |
| Hear it | Recorded by a native Korean speaker |
ㄱ in the syllable chart
11 cells have their own recording, 2 borrow one from an identically pronounced syllable, and 7 have none yet.
Where the reading differs from the spelling
- 계 is read [계/게] and romanized gye.
- 괴 is read [괴/궤] and romanized goe.
- 긔 is read [기] and romanized gui.
See the articles that decide this.
Letters it gets confused with
ㄱ · ㅋ · ㄲ
The three differ by how much air you push out. ㄱ is plain, ㅋ adds a strong puff, and ㄲ is tense with almost no air at all.
Words that use ㄱ
- 가루powder
- 가방bag
- 가수singer
- 가요go
- 가족family
- 휴가vacation
- 거기there near you
- 거부refusal
Questions people ask
- How do you pronounce ㄱ? +
- ㄱ is /k/, [ɡ] between voiced sounds. In English terms it is between the g in go and the k in skin. At the start of a syllable it is romanized g, and at the end of a syllable it is k.
- What is the name of the letter ㄱ? +
- It is called giyeok (기역). Korean consonant names are built so that the letter appears twice — once at the start of the name and once at the end — which tells you both of its positions at a glance.
- How many strokes does ㄱ have? +
- 2. They are written top to bottom and left to right, the same order used for every Korean letter.
- Why is 계 not read the way it is written? +
- 계 is pronounced [계/게]. 3 of the cells in this set read differently from how they are written. The rules page quotes the article that decides it.
- Why do some ㄱ cells play a different syllable? +
- 2 of them do. The standard defines those syllables as having the same pronunciation as another one, so rather than play nothing the cell plays that syllable's recording. Each cell names which one it borrows.