ㅇ — ieung
Korean consonant · silent before a vowel, /ŋ/ in final position
ㅇ is silent before a vowel, /ŋ/ in final position — no sound at the start of a syllable; the ng in sing at the end. It appears in 20 cells of the syllable chart, 20 of which have audio you can play here.
146 of the 568 words in the dictionary behind this site contain ㅇ — 100% of the bar the most common letter would fill.
| Name | ieung (이응) |
|---|---|
| Sound | silent before a vowel, /ŋ/ in final position |
| Romanized | (no sound) at the start, ng at the end |
| Hear it | Recorded by a native Korean speaker |
ㅇ in the syllable chart
20 of 20 cells have audio — 20 with their own recording, 0 borrowing one from an identically pronounced syllable. 0 have none yet.
Where the reading differs from the spelling
- 외 is read [외/웨] and romanized oe.
See the articles that decide this.
Words that use ㅇ
아기
baby
어깨
shoulder
- 모아gather
- 미아lost child
- 아내wife
- 아들son
- 아마probably
- 어디where
Questions people ask
- How do you pronounce ㅇ? +
- ㅇ is silent before a vowel, /ŋ/ in final position. In English terms it is no sound at the start of a syllable; the ng in sing at the end. At the start of a syllable it is romanized with no letter at all, because it carries no sound there, and at the end of a syllable it is ng.
- What is the name of the letter ㅇ? +
- It is called ieung (이응). 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 ㅇ have? +
- 1. It is written in a single movement.
- Why is 외 not read the way it is written? +
- 외 is pronounced [외/웨]. It is the only cell in this row where the standard reading differs from the spelling. The rules page quotes the article that decides it.