CJK is an acronym commonly used to refer to the writing systems used in East Asia, namely Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. It represents the first letters of each of these languages: C for Chinese, J for Japanese, and K for Korean, forming the term CJK.
As a writing system, CJK encompasses a vast range of characters, symbols, and typographic conventions. These systems share some similarities, as they were historically influenced by each other, particularly in the case of Japanese and Korean script, which were derived from Chinese characters. However, each language has its unique set of characters and writing style.
The Chinese component of CJK is based on the use of Chinese characters (also known as hanzi). Traditionally, each character represents a single word, concept, or idea. Chinese characters are logographic in nature, meaning that their form often reveals a connection to the meaning they represent.
The Japanese component of CJK is based on a combination of Chinese characters (known as kanji), hiragana, and katakana. Kanji is used for words of Chinese origin, while hiragana and katakana are syllabic scripts used to represent the sounds of the Japanese language.
The Korean component of CJK uses a unique writing system called hangul. Hangul is an alphabetic script consisting of 14 basic consonants and 10 basic vowels. These can be combined to form syllabic blocks. Hangul is used to write native Korean words but may also be accompanied by Chinese characters (hanja) in certain contexts.
Overall, CJK refers to a broad spectrum of writing systems and typographic conventions used in East Asia, encompassing Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages.
