語

語 encompasses the ideas of spoken communication and language itself.

Representative meanings include: to inform, to announce, to speak / to talk, to answerm, to explain.

It is a phonosemantic compound character, made by combining:

言 (언) – the component indicating the meaning (“speech, words”);

吾 (오) – the component indicating the sound.

According to etymologists, when viewed purely phonologically (by sound), 語 is the original form, and 言 later derived from it.

In the Shuowen Jiezi (説文解字 shuōwén jiězì), it is explained that:

言 refers to “direct speech” — words spoken straight from the mouth,

語 implies “to argue or reason with words.”

In modern Korean vocabulary:

Words using 언 (言) tend to refer to the content of speech (e.g., 발언 statement, 언론 press).

Words using 어 (語) often refer to the form or classification of language (e.g., 어휘 vocabulary, 국어 national language).