Hanja

Hanja is the Korean word for Chinese characters. It is about the Chinese characters that are borrowed from the Chinese language and used in the Korean language with Korean pronunciation. Hanja-mal or hanja-eo is about words which can be written with hanja. Hanmun (한문) is about the Chinese Classical writing, but hanja can sometimes be used to generally mean hanmun too. Hanja was never very changed, so almost all of the Chinese characters in hanja are the same as in traditional Chinese. Only a few hanja characters are unique to Korea.

Hanja
Korean name
Hangul	한자/한문한자
Hanja	漢字/韓文漢字
Revised Romanization	<span title=" transliteration" class="Unicode" style="white-space:normal; text-decoration: none">Hanja
McCune–Reischauer	<span title=" transliteration" class="Unicode" style="white-space:normal; text-decoration: none">Hancha

In the 1440s, however, a Korean hangul alphabet relying on sound was made by a group of students, led by King Sejong the Great. It was not widely used at first. However, by the early 19th and 20th century it was more widely used than hanja, and it is now the official writing system of Korea.

But until then, everyone mostly read and wrote in hanja, so most of the older books in Korean literature are written in hanja. Students who learn Korean history learn hanja to read historical papers. Children in South Korea still learn hanja, for many South Korean words still have roots in hanja. In North Korea, however, hanja has been abolished along with many Chinese loanwords, and North Koreans only use hangul to write in Korean.

Hanja Media

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  The calligraphy of Korean scholar, poet and painter Gim Jeonghui (Hangul: 김정희; Hanja: 金正喜) of the early nineteenth century. Like most educated Koreans from the Three Kingdom period until the fall of the Joseon dynasty in 1910, Gim Jeong-hui composed most of his works in hanmun or literary Chinese.

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  The Korean Baegun Hwasang Chorok Buljo Jikji Simche Yojeol (Hangul: 백운화상초록불조직지심체요절; Hanja: 白雲和尙抄錄佛祖直指心體要節) or roughly 'Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests' Zen Teachings' is the oldest example of a book printed with moveable type and was printed in Korea in 1377, but is written in literary Chinese.

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  A packet of Shin Ramyun, the Chinese character 辛, meaning 'spicy', is prominently reflected

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  The Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty, an annual record of the Joseon dynasty throughout its entire history, was written in Classical Chinese

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  This Korean War propaganda leaflet created by the US Army as part of Operation Moolah uses Hangul–Hanja mixed script.

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  Yakja (약자, 略字) simplification of 無

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  Korean Chinese Character(=無)

Related pages

• Hangul
• Kanji