연음Liaison
한국어hangugeo
A final consonant slides into the next syllable when it starts with ㅇ.
로마자 표기Korean Romanization — Revised Romanization Explained
Revised Romanization is the official way of writing Korean in Latin letters, and the system this site uses everywhere it shows one. It has one property worth understanding before you rely on it: it romanizes pronunciation, not spelling.
That is why 한국말 is hangungmal and not hangukmal — and why 14% of the multi-syllable words in this dictionary romanize differently from a letter-for-letter reading.
- 표기법System
- RR2000
- 달라지는 낱말Words that shift
- 1,975
- 비율Of multi-syllable words
- 14%
자음Consonants romanize differently at each end of a syllable
ㄱ is g in 가 and k in 각. That is not an exception — it is what the letter does.
| Letter | As an initial | As a final | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ㄱ | g | k | [k] / [ɡ] |
| ㄴ | n | n | [n] |
| ㄷ | d | t | [t] / [d] |
| ㄹ | r | l | [ɾ] / [l] |
| ㅁ | m | m | [m] |
| ㅂ | b | p | [p] / [b] |
| ㅅ | s | t | [s] / [ɕ] |
| ㅇ | — | ng | silent / [ŋ] |
| ㅈ | j | t | [tɕ] |
| ㅊ | ch | t | [tɕʰ] |
| ㅋ | k | k | [kʰ] |
| ㅌ | t | t | [tʰ] |
| ㅍ | p | p | [pʰ] |
| ㅎ | h | t | [h] |
| ㄲ | kk | k | tense |
| ㄸ | tt | — | tense |
| ㅃ | pp | — | tense |
| ㅆ | ss | t | tense |
| ㅉ | jj | — | tense |
모음Vowels
One spelling each, in every position. The vowels are the easy half.
Basic 기본 모음
ㅏa
ㅑya
ㅓeo
ㅕyeo
ㅗo
ㅛyo
ㅜu
ㅠyu
ㅡeu
ㅣi
Compound 복합 모음
ㅐae
ㅒyae
ㅔe
ㅖye
ㅘwa
ㅙwae
ㅚoe
ㅝwo
ㅞwe
ㅟwi
ㅢui
소리 변화Six rules, and why romanization never matches spelling
Revised Romanization writes what is said, so every sound change in Korean shows up in it.
비음화Nasalisation
한국말hangungmal
ㄱ, ㄷ and ㅂ become ㅇ, ㄴ and ㅁ before a nasal.
유음화Lateralisation
신라silla
ㄴ and ㄹ next to each other both become ll.
격음화Aspiration
좋고joko
ㅎ fuses with a plain stop into its aspirated partner.
구개음화Palatalisation
같이gachi
ㄷ and ㅌ become j and ch before 이.
ㄹ 비음화ㄹ nasalisation
종로jongno
ㄹ becomes ㄴ after a nasal that is not ㄴ, or after a stop.
Real words where it happens
| Word | Letter by letter | Revised Romanization | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 그렇다 | geureota | to be like that | |
| 많다 | manta | many, much, a lot | |
| 좋다 | jota | to be good | |
| 못하다 | motada | to be unable to do | |
| 생각하다 | saenggakada | to think | |
| 어떻다 | eotteota | to be how, in what state | |
| 시작하다 | sijakada | to begin | |
| 들어가다 | deureogada | to enter |
Two changes this site's romanizer deliberately does not model, because both are lexical rather than rule-governed: 사이시옷 tensing (김밥 → kimppap — RR does not write tensing at all, so its output is unaffected) and ㄴ-insertion at compound boundaries (학여울 → hangnyeoul), which needs a dictionary of where the boundaries fall.
이름Names are the exception
Revised Romanization governs place names and ordinary words. It does not govern people.
| Name | Usual spelling | What RR would give |
|---|---|---|
| 김 | Kim | gim |
| 이 | Lee, Yi, Rhee | i |
| 박 | Park, Pak | bak |
| 최 | Choi | choe |
| 정 | Jung, Chung | jeong |
Place names do follow RR, which is why the spellings on signs changed in 2000: 부산 became Busan rather than Pusan, 제주 became Jeju rather than Cheju.
자주 묻는 질문Common questions
What is Revised Romanization?
The official system for writing Korean in Latin letters, adopted by South Korea in 2000 and used on every road sign and government document since. It replaced McCune–Reischauer, which needed apostrophes and breves that nobody typed correctly.
Why does the romanization not match the spelling?
Because Revised Romanization writes the *pronunciation*, not the letters. 한국말 is hangungmal, not hangukmal, because the ㄱ nasalises before ㅁ. Of the 14,220 multi-syllable words on this site, 1,975 — 14% — romanize differently from a letter-for-letter reading of their spelling.
Should I use romanization to learn Korean?
Only for the first few days, and only as a crutch while the alphabet settles. Romanization is lossy in both directions — ㅓ and ㅗ collapse towards the same English vowel, ㅐ and ㅔ both become e-ish — so a learner who reads romanization is learning a worse version of the language. Hangul takes an afternoon; start there.
Why is 이 spelled Lee?
Personal names are the one place Revised Romanization does not govern: people keep whatever spelling their family already used, most of which pre-date RR and follow McCune–Reischauer or nothing at all. 이 is Lee, Yi or Rhee; 박 is Park or Pak; 김 is Kim, which RR would spell Gim.
Does this site show romanization?
Optionally. Every page has a 로마자 toggle in the header, and it is off by default past the first level — deliberately. Turn it on when you are looking up a word you have only ever heard, and off again once it is doing your reading for you.