Cliff Jones Jr.

If you’re looking for a way to memorize your taekwondo forms, then it’s helpful to be able to write them down. But that quickly turns into a long-winded, repetitive mess without some form of shorthand. My system may seem strange at first, but there’s an intuitive consistency to it, which should become apparent.

Each of the following syllable pairs consist of a “left” version (starting with a voiceless consonant) followed by a “right” version (starting with a voiced consonant). The color-coding is not required, just a way to highlight broad information such as kicks (green) vs. punches (red).

All this data is available to review in Kwyjibo, a free productivity app I’ve been working on.

These are all the forms required in WT-style Taekwondo to earn a black belt. Click or tap any of the transcribed syllables below for a description of what it represents. Cardinal directions are included after each line to show the direction of movement if you were to begin by facing north (N).

For each form below, the full transcription is followed by a simplified version with movement and stances omitted (since these are secondary details that probably won’t give you too much trouble once you get the main actions memorized). These simplified descriptions also skip over “mirrored” sequences (where every “left” move is repeated as a “right” version, and vice versa).