ㄲ — ssanggiyeok
Korean consonant · /k͈/
ㄲ is /k͈/ — a tense, unaspirated k — like the k in sky, said with a tight throat. It appears in 20 cells of the syllable chart, 11 of which have audio you can play here.
8 of the 568 words in the dictionary behind this site contain ㄲ — 5% of the bar the most common letter would fill.
| Name | ssanggiyeok (쌍기역) |
|---|---|
| Sound | /k͈/ |
| Romanized | kk at the start, k at the end |
| Hear it | Recorded by a native Korean speaker |
ㄲ in the syllable chart
11 of 20 cells have audio — 9 with their own recording, 2 borrowing one from an identically pronounced syllable. 9 have none yet.
Where the reading differs from the spelling
- 꼐 is read [꼐/께] and romanized kkye.
- 꾀 is read [꾀/꿰] and romanized kkoe.
- 끠 is read [끼] and romanized kkui.
See the articles that decide this.
Letters it gets confused with
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 ㄲ
토끼
rabbit
깨
sesame seeds
어깨
shoulder
도깨비
Dokkaebi (Korean goblin)
- 가까워요close
- 꼬마little one
- 끄트머리tip
- 도끼axe
Questions people ask
- How do you pronounce ㄲ? +
- ㄲ is /k͈/. In English terms it is a tense, unaspirated k — like the k in sky, said with a tight throat. At the start of a syllable it is romanized kk, and at the end of a syllable it is k.
- What is the name of the letter ㄲ? +
- It is called ssanggiyeok (쌍기역). 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 ㄲ have? +
- 4. They are written top to bottom and left to right, the same order used for every Korean letter.
- Why is 꼐 not read the way it is written? +
- 꼐 is pronounced [꼐/께]. 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 ㄲ 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.