Korean words that carry a world
Some Korean words name things that other languages leave unnamed — the bitter skin inside a chestnut, the stone where shoes are left, a narrow path heavy with dew. These are short pieces about those words, and about the ordinary Korean life they come from.
Dalmuri (달무리) — the ring around the moon
Late on the last night of the holiday I went out into the yard, and there was a pale ring drawn round the moon. Years ago my grandmother would have got in first…
2026-09-28
Ojirap (오지랖) — the coat front, and the meddler
“Your ojirap is too wide.” In Korean that is a rebuke. You meddle; you are into everybody's business. Fewer people know that the phrase started out as a remark …
2026-09-28
Geondeuljangma (건들장마) — rain that will not commit
Hard sun in the morning; by lunchtime a downpour had come through. Put the umbrella up and it stops. Fold it and it starts again. 건들장마, geondeuljangma , is the …
2026-09-28
Gosure (고수레) — a spoonful thrown over the shoulder
Before he would take the first spoonful, my father used to pull a little rice off the top and throw it over his shoulder. 고수레, he would say, not loudly. Ants fo…
2026-09-28
Eumgil (에움길) — the road that does not go straight
The navigation app offers the shortest route, and for the sake of four minutes we take it. 에움길, eumgil , is the word standing on the other side of that. The way…
2026-09-28
Byeotnwi (볕뉘) — sunlight through a gap
볕뉘, byeotnwi , is sunlight that comes through a gap. The hand's breadth of it that gets in under the eaves, between leaves, between two buildings. The word carr…
2026-09-28
Seondeulbaram (선들바람) — the wind you wait all day for
선들바람, seondeulbaram : a light cool wind. Not a gale, and not the barely-there stirring that has a word of its own again. The one in between, at exactly the stre…
2026-09-28
Salgapda (살갑다) — more room inside than out
살갑다, salgapda , is what you call somebody warm and easy to be near. Open the dictionary, though, and another meaning comes first: of a house or a piece of furni…
2026-09-28
Doran-doran (도란도란) — talk you can fall asleep to
도란도란, doran-doran : two or three people talking quietly and fondly together. The sound of the word is already the meaning. There is not one hard consonant in it…
2026-09-28
Malssi (말씨) — there is a seed in speech
In Korean the syllable 씨, ssi — seed — does not go only with plants. 말씨 is how a person speaks. 마음씨 is how they are inside. 솜씨 is what their hands can do. 글씨 is…
2026-09-28
Nabijam (나비잠) — six words for sleep
Korean keeps a separate word for each face that sleep has. 나비잠, nabijam , butterfly sleep: an infant on its back with both arms flung up past its head. 노루잠, nor…
2026-09-28
Mudeowi (무더위) — heat with the water in it
무더위, mudeowi , is not simply bad heat. It is 물, water, fastened to 더위, heat: heat with the wet in it. Korean keeps the two apart. 불볕더위 is fire-glare heat, the s…
2026-09-28
Ullyeok (울력) — work that is not coming back
울력, ullyeok : a whole village turning out to work on one household's trouble, and the force their doing it makes. A death in the family. A wall down after a flo…
2026-09-28
Gilseop (길섶) — the verge
길섶, gilseop : the edge of a road, the strip where the grass is allowed to grow. At the edge of the road that nobody looks at the fleabane opens. Crabgrass, foxt…
2026-09-28
Mulkko (물꼬) — the gap where the water goes through
On wet dawns in the rainy season my father would put a spade over his shoulder and walk out to the paddy. He was going to see to the 물꼬, mulkko — the gap cut in…
2026-09-28
Biseolgeoji (비설거지) — clearing up before the rain
비설거지, biseolgeoji , is what you do when rain is coming on: getting in, or covering over, whatever must not be rained on. Chillies off the mats. Washing off the …
2026-09-28
Neonadeuri (너나들이) — on you-and-I terms
너나들이, neonadeuri , is a friendship where the two of you say 너 and 나 to each other — you and I. No titles, no polite endings, nothing held out at arm's length. I…
2026-09-28
Pumasi (품앗이) — hands lent and hands returned
품앗이, pumasi . You go and work on somebody else's job, and later they come and work on yours. 품 is a pair of hands, the labour itself; pumasi is hands lent and h…
2026-09-28
Garam (가람) — what a river used to be called
가람, garam , is what Korean called a river before 강 — borrowed from Chinese — took the job over. It survives in place names and in old songs. You will find it in…
2026-09-28
Ttanggeomi (땅거미) — twenty minutes of blue
땅거미, ttanggeomi : the dusk just after the sun has gone, when it is not dark yet but the edges of things have begun to go. The hills flatten into cut paper. The …
2026-09-28
Orosi (오롯이) — the whole of it, nothing else
오롯이, orosi : wholly, with nothing kept back and nothing left out. 그 마음을 오롯이 담았다 — he put the whole of what he felt into it. It is an adverb, so it never stands …
2026-09-28
Gosat (고샅) — the lane between the walls
고샅, gosat : the narrow lane in a village, between the stone walls and the mud walls, too tight for anything with wheels. Not a road. Nothing came down it except…
2026-09-28
Yeoul (여울) — where the water gets loud
여울, yeoul : the place in a river where the bed comes up or the banks close in, and the water runs fast and makes a noise. Water that has been going quietly for …
2026-09-28
Aram (아람) — ripe enough to fall by itself
아람, aram : a chestnut or an acorn ripe enough to fall by itself. Also the nut, once it has. Nobody pulled it down. It took a whole summer of sun and rain at its…
2026-09-28
Onsaemiro (온새미로) — not cut, not split
온새미로, onsaemiro : as the thing was made in the first place, not cut and not split. The dictionary headword is actually 온새미 — the state of a thing undivided and …
2026-09-28
Hamchorom (함초롬) — damp, and the better for it
함초롬, hamchorom : lightly wet with dew or rain, and neat on account of it. You use it of grass at first light — 풀잎이 이슬에 함초롬 젖었다, the blades are hamchorom with de…
2026-09-28
Eumgil (에움길) — the long way round
에움길, eumgil : not the straight way but the way round. The road that wraps the foot of a hill. The path that follows the banks of the paddies instead of cutting …
2026-09-28
Haetgwi (햇귀) — the first of the light
햇귀, haetgwi : the first light, the very first of it, as the sun comes up. The faintest light of the day and the most definite. Nothing else is awake for it. It …
2026-09-28
Dodamdodam (도담도담) — growing with nothing going wrong
도담도담, dodamdodam , is how a small child grows when nothing goes wrong. There is no achievement in the word. Nothing about being first, nothing about being ahead…
2026-09-28
Sinabeuro (시나브로) — while you were not watching
시나브로, sinabeuro : little by little, without your noticing. Snow does it. Children do it. So does getting fond of somebody. The not-noticing is inside the word. …
2026-09-28
Majungmul (마중물) — the water you pour in first
Before there were taps, when the pump would not draw, you poured a dipper of water down it first. That dipper has a name: 마중물, majungmul . 마중 on its own means g…
2026-09-28
Yeoubi (여우비) — rain with the sun out
Bright sun, clear sky, and rain coming down anyway. Korean has a word ready for it: 여우비, yeoubi — fox rain. The old people had an explanation too. The tiger is …
2026-09-28
Mirinae (미리내) — a dragon's stream
미리내, mirinae : the Milky Way. Not the standard word — that is 은하수, a river of silver, borrowed from Chinese — but what they called it on the island of Jeju. 미리 …
2026-09-28
Yunseul (윤슬) — light broken on water
윤슬, yunseul : the glitter of small waves under sun or moonlight. You will have stood by a river or the sea and watched the surface come apart into light. Korean…
2026-09-28
Baramkkot (바람꽃) — the first meaning is not a flower
바람꽃, baramkkot . Wind-flower. Open the dictionary, though, and the first entry is not a flower. When a big wind is getting up, a whitish haze gathers on the far…
2026-09-28
Dalmaru (달마루) — a word somebody made up
There is a word going about, 달마루, dalmaru : moonlight settling on the wooden floor of a house, or else the high point of the sky where the moon hangs. First the…
2026-09-28
Banbogi (반보기) — meeting halfway, for half a day
“Let's meet in the middle.” Parents and grown children still arrange it this way before a holiday. Two hours of driving each, a bowl of noodles at a motorway se…
2026-09-17
Ongi (옹이) — where the tree closed over
Split enough firewood and you come to the place where the axe bounces back at you. That is 옹이, ongi . An ongi forms where a branch was attached, or where one br…
2026-09-17
Jaturi (자투리) — what is left when the cloth is cut
My mother never threw away the cloth left over from sewing. Under the sewing basket there was always a heap of coloured scraps. Those are 자투리, jaturi — the smal…
2026-09-17
Dwiran (뒤란) — the shaded ground behind the house
A house is not only its front. Past the gate and the yard, round the back, there is a narrow strip of ground inside the fence where the sun hardly reaches. That…
2026-09-17
Haegeori (해거리) — the year a tree takes off
A persimmon tree takes every other year off. If last autumn the branches bent under the weight of it, this year there will be a scattering and no more. Korean h…
2026-09-17
Galmuri (갈무리) — putting things by
After 처서, cheoseo — the point in the old almanac, late August, when the heat is supposed to break — the yard of a country house gets busy. Chillies go out on ma…
2026-09-17
Masugeori (마수걸이) — the first sale of the day
“Do your masugeori here on the way past. I'll take something off for you.” The fish seller had only just got her stall laid out. It was barely gone seven, and t…
2026-09-17
Gaebapbaragi (개밥바라기) — the star at the dog's supper hour
The sun goes down and one star comes out ahead of the others, low in the west, alone and very bright while the sky still holds some blue. My grandmother called …
2026-09-17
Seomdol (섬돌) — the stone where the shoes go
You could tell who was home by looking at the shoes. They sat on a broad flat stone where the yard met the house — my father's black rubber shoes, my mother's w…
2026-09-08
Iseulbadi (이슬받이) — the one who walks first
Six in the morning, on the path up the hill behind the house. The grass had grown knee-high on both sides of a track barely a foot wide, and I was soaked before…
2026-09-08
Bonui (보늬) — the bitter skin that kept the chestnut
The water in the bowl had gone the color of weak tea, and my mother was only halfway down the pile. A chestnut has to be peeled twice. The shell comes off with …
2026-09-08