韓

A phono-semantic compound:

韋 (“tanned leather, hide”) provides the semantic element.

倝 (gan/han, “morning sun, to shine”) provides the phonetic element.

The earliest form combined 倝 + 韋, with an additional 人 on top of 韋, which later disappeared in the current form.

Variant form: 𩏑, closer to the ancient shape.

In Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字), 韓 is glossed as 井垣 = “well fence, enclosure around a well.”

This early sense quickly disappeared, and 韓 came to be used primarily as a proper noun.

Today, 韓 almost always refers to Korea (韓國, 大韓民國), the Korean people, or related terms (韓半島 “Korean Peninsula”).

Thus, 韓 functions as a national and ethnic identifier in modern contexts.

韓國 (한국) – Korea;

韓民族 (한민족) – the Korean people, Korean ethnicity.

韓氏 (한씨) – the Han surname;