Hangul · consonant · 6 of 40
ㅂ 비읍
- Name
- 비읍 bieup
- Sound
- b or p, as in 바
- How it sounds
- At the start of a word it sits between b and p, with a light breath. Between vowels it is a clear b, and at the end of a block it is a p with the lips closed and kept closed.
- Memory hook
- ㅂ is the closed mouth ㅁ with two strokes rising from it: the lips pressed shut and ready to pop open for b.
- Watch for
- Blowing a strong English p at the start of a word, which turns 바 into the breathy 파.
Words that use ㅂ
Romanisation help
바다
bada
sea
밥
bap
cooked rice; a meal
비
bi
rain
How to write ㅂ
Stroke order · 4 strokes
1
2
3
4
- 1. Down the left side, from top to bottom.
- 2. Down the right side, from top to bottom.
- 3. Across the middle, from left to right.
- 4. Across the bottom, from left to right.
General rules
- Top to bottom, left to right.
- Horizontal strokes are written left to right, vertical ones top to bottom.
- Many corners are turned without lifting the pen, so ㄱ and ㄴ are each a single stroke.
- ㅇ is drawn anticlockwise, starting from the top.
- Vowels follow the same order: ㅏ and ㅜ start with the long line, while ㅓ and ㅗ start with the short stroke.
- In a block, write the consonant first, then the vowel, then any final consonant.
Practise it with a tracing guide and a from-memory pass on the writing practice page.
ㅂ is taught on day 3 of the Hangul course, alongside ㅅ ㅈ ㅎ, with a memory hook, words to read and two writing passes.