What is a manhwa?

The Korean name: 만화 (manhwa)

The word manhwa literally translates from Korean as “cartoons” or “comics.” Written in hangul as 만화 and in the older Chinese-character (hanja) system as 漫畵, the term shares its etymological root with Japanese manga (漫画) and Chinese manhua (漫画) — all three derive from characters historically translated as “impromptu sketches.” The Korean pronunciation of these shared characters gives us manhwa.

In global English usage, manhwa refers specifically to Korean-origin comics. The plural form manhwas is widely used in English (though technically Korean nouns do not inflect for number). The term covers both traditional paginated print comics dating to early 20th-century Korea and modern digital vertical-scroll comics that dominate today’s Korean and global platforms.

How to pronounce manhwa

Manhwa is pronounced roughly “mahn-hwah” — two syllables, with the second syllable rhyming with “hwa” as in Hawaii (but shorter). In IPA, approximately /manhwa/. The h is audible but soft — English speakers often incorrectly drop it, saying “man-wa,” but the correct pronunciation preserves the h sound.

Why it’s called manhwa (not manga)

Manhwa and manga share the same underlying Chinese characters (漫画 / 漫畵), historically translated as “impromptu drawings.” Each East Asian language pronounces those characters differently: manga in Japanese, manhwa in Korean, manhua in Mandarin Chinese. All three refer to comics from their respective countries, but each has developed distinct visual traditions, reading directions, and publishing conventions. Korea adopted the term in the early 20th century as its comics industry emerged.

• Full color — unlike traditional black-and-white manga, most modern manhwa is published in full color from the first episode.
• Vertical scroll — designed for phone reading; readers scroll top-to-bottom rather than flipping pages side-to-side.
• Read left-to-right — unlike manga’s right-to-left reading order, manhwa follows the Western/Korean text convention.
• Digital-first — most series originate on platforms like WEBTOON or Naver rather than in print magazines.
• Episode-based — typically 40–80 panels per episode released weekly.
• Cinematic pacing — the vertical-scroll format encourages long establishing panels, wide splash moments, and paced reveals impossible in fixed-page layouts.

Signature manhwa art conventions

Beyond format, modern manhwa has developed a recognizable visual grammar. Character designs favor large expressive eyes, defined jawlines, and highly styled hair. Hair-color coding is used as a character-identifier shorthand — a lead with lavender or silver hair reads as protagonist-important at a glance. Panel pacing leverages the vertical rhythm: quick-cut small panels for dialogue, elongated ones for tension, and full-width splash panels for reveals. Background art is often 3D-rendered or photo-composited for architectural depth. Sound-effect text usually mixes hangul SFX with romanized onomatopoeia in English-translated releases.

Popular manhwa genres

Manhwa vs webtoon — same thing or different?

Manhwa is the Korean word for comics; webtoon is a format — vertical-scroll digital comics pioneered on Korean platforms. Most modern webtoons are manhwa (Korean-origin), but not all manhwa are webtoons (some are traditional paginated print). And not all webtoons are Korean — Japanese and Chinese creators publish webtoons too on platforms like Naver, KakaoPage, and Bilibili Comics.

In practice, if you’re reading a full-color vertical-scroll Korean comic on WEBTOON, you’re reading both a manhwa (by origin) and a webtoon (by format). If you’re reading a black-and-white paginated Korean comic from the 1990s, that’s a manhwa but not a webtoon. If you’re reading a vertical-scroll comic by a French creator on WEBTOON CANVAS, that’s a webtoon but not a manhwa.

For the deep-dive on the webtoon format itself — its platforms, publishing models, and history — see our companion guide, What Is a Webtoon.

Manhwa vs manhua — Korean vs Chinese comics

Manhwa is Korean; manhua is Chinese. Both are Asian comics traditions that in the modern digital era share more structural similarities with each other than with Japanese manga — both are typically full color, both are vertical-scroll on their respective platforms, and both are read left-to-right.

The distinctions are country of origin, language of publication, and dominant genre traditions. Korean manhwa leans heavily toward romance, isekai, regression stories, and BL. Chinese manhua often features cultivation (xianxia / wuxia — protagonists growing spiritual power through practice), historical dramas, and martial-arts epics rooted in Chinese literary traditions.

For the dedicated deep-dive, see our companion guide What Is a Manhua.

“Big 3” is a community-established label, not an official WEBTOON designation. Each of the three received anime adaptations between 2020 and 2024, cementing their reputation as the format’s foundational works.

Reading through official platforms — rather than aggregator or scanlation sites — routes revenue back to Korean creators and studios. All six platforms compensate creators through platform-specific revenue models.