Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Korean Vocabulary Based On Chinese Characters

Preface

Learning Korean has become popular as more people are exposed to K-pop and K-drama cultures. However, Korean is a complex language for English speakers mainly because of its vast vocabulary, which originated from Chinese characters known as Hanja. Unless you know the Chinese characters using Korean, it will be a real challenge to improve your Korean language skills.


Korean is an Altaic language like Turkish and Japanese and also has a wide range of vocabulary based on Chinese characters. Korea has the central historical event of inventing the Korean alphabet known as Hangul in 1446. Since the ingenious creation of its alphabet, Korean has become a flexible and convenient language to write any sounds that we hear.


This blog intends to help Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese speakers and others who are familiar with Chinese characters. The blog also benefits native Korean speakers by connecting their knowledge of Korean to Chinese characters. Finally, the blog will help English speakers learn the Korean vocabulary systematically and effectively while understanding its origins.


The author has compiled more than 8,800 Korean words based on Chinese characters. Chinese, English, and Korean speakers will unquestionably have the opportunity to improve their language skills through this blog.


Content Guideline

First line: ( (Ga): ; ; (); ; ; ; ; ; ; )

The Korean character “ is transliterated as “Ga” in English and has 10 different Chinese characters (; ; (); ; ; ; ; ; ; ).


Second line: (가: (add))

The second line has the Korean character "", the Chinese character "", and the Korean-English translation "add."


Third line:

加減

加减

Addition and subtraction

The third line has four columns: the Korean characters"", the traditional Chinese characters "加減", the simplified Chinese characters "加减", and the Korean-English translation "addition and subtraction."


First table:

加減

加减

Addition and subtraction

공유

加工乳

 

Processed milk

가담

加擔

加担

Participation

가맹

加盟店

 

A franchise

가미

加味

 

Seasoning

가산율

加算率

 

An additional rate

가세

加勢

加势

Participation

가속

加速

 

Acceleration

가열장치

加熱裝置

加热装置

A heating device

가외

加外

 

An extra

가일층

加一層

加一层

More and more

가입

加入

 

Participation

가중처벌

加重處罰

加重处罚

An additional punishment

가칠

加漆

 

Recoating

가해자

加害者

 

An attacker or an assailant

가호

加護

加护

Divine protection

The first table shows the Korean vocabulary list starting with the Chinese character () and the list is based on Korean alphabetical order. 

The vocabulary and index lists show on the top section of the web version blog and on the Home tab of the mobile version. The compiled lists include 13 Korean Alphabet files (#01 to #13) and 6 Index files (#14 to #19). Also the compiled lists are prepared based on the references mentioned below.

References

Boping Yuan and Sally K. Church (Eds.), Oxford Beginner's Chinese Dictionary, Oxford University Press, New York, 2006

Naver English Dictionary (https://en.dict.naver.com/#/main)

Naver Korean Dictionary (https://ko.dict.naver.com/#/main)

Naver Hanja Dictionary (https://hanja.dict.naver.com/#/main)

New Standard Korean-English Dictionary, Academic Development Company (학력개발사), Seoul, 1992

Oxford Leaner’s Dictionaries (https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/)

ZDIC Chinese Dictionary (https://www.zdic.net/zd/bs/)

 

Korean Vocabulary Based On Chinese Characters

Preface Learning Korean has become popular as more people are exposed to K-pop and K-drama cultures. However, Kor...