Learn some words using Hanja! These words use Chinese words as a basis so a lot are related and use the same syllables. Which makes them easier to learn and remember their similar meaning.
Similar to “un-” words in English (unhappy, unclear, unknown, unusual, uncomfortable) you know all of them have the meaning of “not- this thing”.
One of my first posts on Sino-Korean and using Hanja to learn Korea was on 人 Hanja, which is where 인 in 인간 and many other words come from. While 人 is related to people, the Hanja we are covering today is also related, but more so about describing a person. 者 or 자 relates more to describing people with a specific job, characteristic, status, etc.. The breakdown of the Hanja from a lot of these comes out to “the one who __”.
This is something I saw coming up in a few words, but unlike others I have covered, it isn’t based on Hanja or Sino-Korean!
Tea is a classic drink with a long history, and Korea is no exception. Today I’ll dive a bit into the drink with vocab for the different kinds of tea in Korean, Korea’s culture and history with tea, some Sino-Korean, and more.
Jeju’s Haenyeo (해녀; lit. sea women (海女)) are specialized female divers who earn their livelihood by diving without breathing equipment for abalone, conch, oysters, sea urchins, and more. And have been mastering the practice for multiple generations!
I’m back with more Sino-Korean! The 의 in 의미 meaning comes from the Hanja 意 which means thought/idea/opinion. You’ll see 의 in words related to meaning, intention, willingness, and even carelessness.
Today is 한글날 or Hangul Day, which is a Korean holiday dedicated to celebrating the Korean writing system and its creator King Sejong! So to commemorate, I’ll go through a bit on Hangul’s history, King Sejong, and some resources on how to learn Hangul yourself.
不 means “not” and is very much like not, non-, un-, dis-, etc. in English! It generally appears in Korean as 불 or 부 at the front of a word. With that said Let’s get into some negative Hanja words! I’ll start out by breaking some of the words down, so you get the 2-for-1 combo~
A while ago I touched on Korean body vocab, now it’s time to dive deeper and go inside the body to the organs! I’ll cover Korean organ vocab from internal and external, along with bones, muscles, and more.
You may have noticed 문 come up often when learning about writing or culture in Korean. From 문화 meaning to 문학 they are tied to a hanja of course! The hanja 文 means culture and literature/writing so you will see it in a lot of literature vocab in Korean.
Kim is everywhere as a surname in Korea, Koreans named Kim make up millions of the population! It’s almost guaranteed that you have come across this name enough to wonder “Why are so many Koreans named Kim?”.