Questions tagged [meaning]
Questions about the meaning of certain prefixes, suffixes, words, phrases, sentences, and/or texts in relation to context.
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Do 같이 and 함께 mean the same thing?
Do 같이 and 함께 mean the same thing? If they are different then how do I know which one to use?
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What does it mean when someone writes 드림 at the end of an email?
What does it mean when someone writes 드림 at the end of an email? Does it have a specific meaning in that context?
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What is the difference between 일, 하루 and 날?
Do both 일 and 하루 mean today and 날 means the next day or does it depend on context?
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Etymology of '가짜' and '진짜'
'가짜' means:
거짓을 참인 것처럼 꾸민 것. (Literally) A lie, untruth, fake disguised as truth.
'진짜' means:
본뜨거나 거짓으로 만들어 낸 것이 아닌 참된 것. (Literally) A real thing that is not copied or fabricated.
'가' ...
user7
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How different are “대하다” and “관하다?”
“대하다 (對하다)” and “관하다 (關하다).” Both seem similar, but not the same. How different are they? The only thing I know is that “對” means “to face” and “關” means “to relate.”
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Does 'Gee' (as in the 소녀시대 song) have any Korean meaning?
Simple question about an old song. Does 'Gee' in the 소녀시대 song of the same name have any meaning in Korean? If not, is it a non-lexical vocable or just a borrowing of the slightly dated English ...
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Are the words 이상 and 이하 inclusive?
The words 이상 and 이하 can follow a number to mean "more than" or "less than":
3년 이상
However, it's not always clear if the number itself is included: does the above mean "more than 3 years" or "3 ...
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What is the difference between 끝나다 and 끝내다?
I saw both verbs here and there, and both seems to mean "to finish" (according to Google translate).
What are the differences between them?
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What does 초고수 mean?
A friend sent the following text:
네 ㅋㅋㅋ 곧, 한국어 초고수 되곘어요
I tried to look up 초고수, but couldn't find it in the dictionary. What does it mean here? I assume it is somehow related to 고수?
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Where does "약방의 감초" originate and what does it mean exactly?
I heard quite often Korean people say "약방의 감초" which literally translates to "licorice (root) of drugstore (pharmacy)" to refer to a person or thing that is indispensable.
Where does this proverb ...
user7
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Exact meaning of 마디
I learned that 마디 could be used as a countword for words. Indeed, the dictionary has examples like "한 마디도 안 했다" - I didn't say a word.
However, I'm reading an article (here, unfortunately behind a ...
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"며느리도 모른다" etymology
As indicated in the article, '혼전 또 혼전' 5강 싸움.. '이젠 며느리도 모른다' (Who will get a wild card in baseball, nobody knows), "며느리도 모른다." is broadly used in Korean to mean
Nobody can know (Nobody knows).
The ...
user7
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Are 손가락 and 발가락 related to 숟가락 and 젓가락?
Does 가락 have any meaning by itself? Are 손가락 and 발가락 related to 숟가락 and 잣가락? I can imagine 숟가락 meaning 'round finger (extension)'and 젓가락 meaning 'long finger (extension)'. At least I'll use that to ...
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How are 선배 and 후배 classified in Korean (age, position or both)?
could anyone especially Korean native speakers have a look at this excerpt and tell me whether it is correct or not?
As the book said 선배 and 후배 are classified based on two criteria, age and position. ...
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Etymology of '말발'
'말발' is a quite interesting word and according to the linked Naver Korean dictionary, it means:
듣는 이로 하여금 그 말을 따르게 할 수 있는 말의 힘.
We often hear "말발이 서다" and "말발을 세우다" and what is the etymology of ...
user7
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What is the meaning of 쥐쥐?
A friend send me this text:
그러면 그 뒤로 갈까요? 아니면 오늘은 쥐쥐?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
What is the meaning of 쥐쥐 here and how is the expression derived? I assume it means to cancel?
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what's the old korean saying, "Nuh jukgo, nah jukja"?
In Evan Osnos' book Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China he mentions an
old korean saying, "Nuh jukgo, nah jukja"
What is this saying in Korean?
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What is the meaning of 가다듬어? Naver dictionary wasn't much help
I'm trying to find the meaning of 가다듬어, but naver dictionary wasn't being much help as it said 'straighten' but that didn't really fit with the sentence I had, and the other examples seemed to suggest ...
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What kind of cheese is 눈꽃치즈 (snow cheese)?
눈꽃치즈 is typically translated into English as "snow cheese" on Korean menus (and sometimes "Hangulized" as 스노치즈). In most food pictures it just appears to be a very finely shredded, light-colored ...
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Is it more polite to say '고맙습니다' or '감사합니다'? Is there any other difference in meaning?
Are '고맙습니다' or '감사합니다' interchangeable, or is there a difference in meaning or politeness?
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Fasting: 금식 vs 단식
It seems to me that while 단식 is a generic term for not eating, 금식 has more religious connotations and includes things like refraining "fasts" from meat/added sugar/etc. that people may practice for ...
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Is '양반 (兩班)' a sexist word?
This question was inspired by @topomorto's recent question, If a wife works and her husband stays at home, are 집사람 and 바깥분 still appropriate for “wife” and “husband” respectively? and my answer saying ...
user7
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What does "위해" mean here? Not "harm" or "benefit"
What does "위해" mean in the below text?
I'm trying to translate a post on O.LAB's Facebook page. Here is the first sentence:
근본주의
본래 다양한 형태의
극보수적-반근대적 운동들을
폭넓게 가리키기 위해 사용되는 용어.
I'm just ...
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Five-colored strings on a fishing boat?
Well, this might not exactly be a language question but here is what I am talking about: there is a Korean children's song entitled “island village” (섬마을), and the lyrics can be viewed here. The ...
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Is the Korean on this van referring to a church?
Is the Korean written on the side of this van in an episode of The Office referring to some sort of Church? Or, what is it saying?
credit: Office
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If 일 할 날 is "the day on which work will be done", is it possible to say "the day until which work will be done" with a similar construction?
I believe the most obvious translation of 일 할 날 would be "the day on which work will be done", or perhaps "the day on which I will work" if the 'I' is obvious from the context.
I am wondering if it ...
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Meaning of 유리아이
유리아이 is the Korean name of the song 'Lost in Love' by Taeyeon and Tiffany of Girls' Generation.
I know that 유리 琉璃 means glass, and I know that 아이 means child. However, when put together, Glass Child ...
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Why does Samsung company name means "Three stars" and not "Three castle"?
From Wikipedia: "The Samsung Group (Korean: 삼성)"
I went to Google Translate and pasted the two words:
삼 = three
성 = castle (and other options, none of them being star)
If I paste them together, 삼성,...
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What's the meaning and appropriate usage of 잘 부탁드립니다?
I sometimes hear the phrase "잘 부탁드립니다" used in certain formal settings, for instance during introductions.
It seems to mean, literally, just "I request (something)"; that doesn't really make sense to ...
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What is the right word for nationality in Korean?
In the dictionary, Korean is translated to '한국 사람'. But Google translates it like 'Korea Love'?
Do all other nationalities in Korean also end with '사람'?
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Are '주어요' and '줘요' exactly equivalent?
Are both 주어요 and 줘요 equally correct and exactly equivalent ways to write the 해요체 form of 주다?
I have read that such contractions are 'optional' after a consonant but I'm not sure if they have any ...
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What's the extra meaning of ‘삽질하다’, literally meaning ‘to shovel’?
I've seen many Koreans (especially developers) use the word ‘삽질하다’.
What's the meaning it implies? It doesn't seem to mean ‘to shovel’, which is its original meaning (‘삽’ (shovel) + ‘-질’ (-ing) + ‘-...
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What is the original form of 거예요?
I saw the following sentence:
이 장남감은 누구 거예요?
I know the meaning, which is Whose is this toy?.
However, I don't know what is the original verb of 거예요. It seems that there is no verb registered as ...
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Why this sentence are wrong?
I read in a Korean textbook the following sentence:
그는 대학교에 합격해서 정말 기쁘다
The textbook said this is correct. But to the next sentence
그는 대학교에 합격해서 정말 기뻤어?
This textbook said that the sentence is ...
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What does 꿀잠각 mean?
Based on the Google results of 꿀잠각 뜻, there is no relevant page to explain how it is. But the search result shows it is the word that people actually use, with the hashtag #꿀잠각 seen on Instagram.
I ...
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Function of '주리다' in '굶주리다'
According to Naver Korean dictionary, '굶주리다' means:
동사 (verb)
먹을 것이 없어서 배를 곯다. Starve without anything to eat.
The verb seems to be related with '굶다' which means:
동사 (verb)
「…을」 ...
user7
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Is there an opposite expression for 괜히?
I feel like I learned a word that’s somewhat an opposite for 괜히 but I cannot remember what it was.
The specific situation is...
For 괜히... after being invited by a friend to a party and realizing it ...
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Help me with this "왜"
If after "왜" there is a comma, is the meaning still "why?", because I found some sentences that makes me confused.
For example, I found this sentence :
남서부에서 산사태도 발생했다던데. 왜, 그 무슨 백작 부인도 거기 휘말려서...
...
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Does 이만 have two (or more) specific meanings?
I encountered this small passage:
오늘 가능한 건 내일 도 가능해,
그러니까 오늘은 이만 자자고
This was translated for me as
Things we can do today can be done tomorrow, so let's sleep now.
i.e. 이만 meaning 'now'. I ...
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Use of ~라 as a sentence ender to give a warning
This is related to the question here
The answer posted by Gaeguri seems to be what I was looking for, but I wanted some more information, and found this dictionary definition
Transcript:
...
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How is 멘탈 잡아 used?
I was watching this show, and the situation starts at 7:06.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gowWjwlm10&t=555s
I understand that they're embarassed but I don't get the nuance of this expression...
...
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How do I read a tilde “~” in Korean?
I'm learning Korean and noticed that Korean contains a lot of phrases with the Tilde "~" . For example the sentence:
여행지의 기본 정보를 알아본 후 여행 상품을 2~3개 정도 고릅니다.
I see this Tidle "~" ...
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What is written in that big bracket?
I was looking up the Korean word for “together”, when I came across its entry in the pure Korean dictionary on my iPhone. There’s this big bracket which seems to provide the etymology of the word.
I ...
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How to say "to" as a linking word between verbs in Korean?
I've been learning both English and Korean, and as I know, we can use "to" to link two verbs in English. Ex:
Alex is lost. We must go to find her.
I would like to invite Kim professor to ...
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What does the short form represent for Korean Parts of Speech?
Sometimes, I see these in dictionary word lists that has a short form for Korean Parts of Speech (POS) and I could figure out the "long-form", e.g.
감 = 감탄사 interjection, exclamation
관 = 관형사 ...
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How do you know if 웃다 means 'to laugh' or 'to smile'?
(to) smile can be translated as 웃다 or 미소 짓다
(to) laugh can be translated as 웃다
So if I read/heard a sentence like 소피가 웃어요., how do I know if Sophie (소피) is laughing (out loud) or smiling? Do I have ...
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What is the meaning of 만 in 빠져들고만 싶은?
I'm still new to learning Korean so my apologies if I'm misunderstanding something here but, I was curious about how the grammar worked for the phrase "빠져들고만 싶은".
If I understand it correctly, you ...
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Translation: "유리 건물이 점점 늘어나는 것은 외관이 아름답고 다양한 디자인이 가능해 건물의 개성을 드러내기 쉽기 때문인데요"
I'm new Korean learner and now I saw this sentence in a paragraph.
요즘엔 일반 건물도 유리로 짓는 경우가 많습니다. 유리 건물이 점점 늘어나는 것은 외관이 아름답고 다양한 디자인이 가능해 건물의 개성을 드러내기 쉽기 때문인데요
Can you help me to translate "유리 건물이 점점 ...
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Does this sentence imply that anthocyanin contains iron?
I am watching an SBS TV program about food and cooking and it shows this:
As I understand it, it seems to say that the red color of the strawberry
is from anthocyanin which contains large quantities ...
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What does "지" mean in the following sentence?
The sentence is: 인터넷으로 사지 뭐하러 여기에 와?
I would paraphrase this as: 인터넷으로 사면 여기 올 필요 없으니까 왜 오려고 해?
Is this right? i think the 지 has some sort of connecting function, like 고
or 서.. but i couldn't find ...
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