서울
Seoul · official romanization Seoul
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Build it step by step
The letters of each block, then the block they build. Tap a play button to hear it.
Red first consonantBlue vowelBlack final consonant (batchim)
Block 1: 서 [seo]
2 letters
First consonant
시옷 siot
[s]Vowel
[eo]an open “uh” as in “cup”
Built block · vowel on the right
ㅅ + ㅓ =
서
Block 2: 울 [ul]
3 letters
First consonant
이응 ieung
[silent]silent at the start: it only holds the place
Vowel
[u]u as in “moon”
Final (batchim)
리을 rieul
[l]l, the tongue touches the ridge
Built block · vowel underneath, final at the bottom
ㅇ + ㅜ + ㄹ =
울
All blocks together
서 + 울 =
서울
Spelling vs. sound
Seoul is exactly the official romanization: 서 = seo, 울 = ul. The “eo” is how romanization writes ㅓ, so 서 sounds closer to “suh” than “see-oh”, and the word has two syllables, not one.
Say it seo-ul, two even beats: ㅅ is an s, ㅓ is an open “uh”, then 울 begins with the vowel ㅜ, the “oo” in “moon”, and ends in ㄹ, an l with the tongue touching the ridge behind the teeth. English speakers often say it as one syllable, like “soul”; in Korean it is suh-ool.
서울 comes from an old native Korean word meaning “capital”, so unlike most Korean city names it has no Chinese characters (hanja) behind it. Why write 울 and not just ㅜ+ㄹ? A block never starts with a bare vowel, so a silent ㅇ holds the first place, like 아 in 코리아.
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