hanja

Hanja Lesson 1: , , , , Click here for a PDF copy of all our Hanja lessons.

Before we start learning actual characters, you need to know how the Hanja system works. Only

words of Chineseorigin have corresponding Hanja characters. At first, there is no easy way to know

precisely if a word (especially a noun) has a Chinese origin without looking that word up in a

dictionary. Eventually, as you learn more Hanja characters, you will become more and more familiar

with the words that can be represented in Hanja.

Most adjectives and verbs that end in have corresponding Hanja equivalents. Most adjectives

and verbs that do not end in do not have corresponding Hanja equivalents.

For example:

: to read | This is a verb without . It has no Hanja equivalent. There is no way to represent

this word using Hanja.

: to read | This is a verb containing . The Hanja equivalent of is . The

following are the meanings of each character:

= () reading, read

= () writing, reading

(Notice that the portion cannot be represented using Hanja characters.)

: to be smart | This is an adjective containing . There is no Hanja equivalent.

Knowing if a word can be represented using Hanja characters or not gets significantly easier as you

progress through your studies. The more characters you know (and know the meaning of), the better

you will get at recognizing when a word can have a Hanja equivalent.

Having even a rudimentary understanding of Hanja characters can significantly help ones Korean

studies especially in the long run. As you learn more and more Korean vocabulary, the words will

become increasingly more difficult and obscure. With some simple Hanja studying, it is possible to

assume the meaning of a word even if you have never studied its meaning.

Id like to give you an unrealistic example of how a learner can deduce the meaning of a Korean

word without ever looking up the definition. I am only using this as an example, and I do not suggest

learning these characters yet.

Mr. B has been studying Hanja lately. He has recently learned the two Hanja characters:

= () = writing, reading

= () = store

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While walking around the streets of Seoul, he notices a word that he is not familiar with. Written on a

sign is . As he knows to mean writing/reading, and to mean store from his Hanja

studies, he deduces that the sign translates to bookstore.

The reason this example is unrealistic is because a Korean learner would most likely know the word

before learning the respective Hanja characters for and . Nonetheless, situations

similar to this do occur when a learner has a good base in Hanja.

Drawing Hanja characters is a challenge at first. Luckily, most people start with the most basic

characters (both in meaning and scripture), so the hill does not start very steep. In addition, the

stroke order and pen movements when drawing Hanja characters are very similar to that of Hangeul

characters.

That being said, I would like to introduce you to the basic scripture rules of Hanja (or Chinese

characters, for that matter). These rules will be sufficient for you to be able to write the characters

introduced in this Lesson. I have specifically chosen characters for this lesson that are simple,

common, and can be used to teach the basic stroke-order rules.

The first basic rule that you cannot start a character without is:

I will be referring to these rules by number throughout the lessons. I will introduce new rules as they

become necessary.

1) Draw lines left to right, and top to bottom.

Just like the stroke order of in Korean, you should never draw a line from right to left or bottom

to top. For example, if you look at the stroke order of in Korean:

Notice that a stroke is never drawn right to left, or bottom to top. Without knowing this rule, most

people wouldincorrectly connect strokes 2 and 3 by drawing a line right-to-left.

In addition, corners from left-to-right to top-to bottom (strokes 1 and 2 above) and top-to-bottom to

left-to-right (strokes 4 and 5 above) are usually done without removing the pen from the paper.

Each Hanja character has an equivalent Korean name. These Korean names are used to indicate

which specific character one is referring to in a conversation. The Korean name is usually composed

of the Hangeul equivalent of the character being described by a Korean word. They dont need to be

memorized, although most of them are fairly intuitive.

-

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= = Big

(Korean name: )

One of the most common Hanja characters that you will see in Korea. When ordering at restaurants,

you will often see this symbol (in addition to the other characters in this lesson) on a menu to

distinguish between the different sizes of dishes you can order. Also commonly seen in

stores/supermarkets to differentiate between different sizes of items.

In order to draw this, we need to learn some more stroke-order rules:

2) Draw horizontal strokes before vertical strokes if they intersect

Therefore, the first stroke of this character should be the horizontal one:

For the remainder of the character, we need to use the following rule:

3) For mirrored diagonal strokes, draw diagonally right to left before left to right.

Therefore, the second stroke of this character should be the stroke going from the top to the bottom

left (note that doing these diagonal strokes would be one of the only time that you draw from right to

left).

After introducing each character, I will provide a list of Korean words where that character can be

found. When this is done, only the characters that have been introduced up to that point will be

represented using Hanja characters.

As you can see below, the word is written as . Note that and do have

Hanja equivalents but because they havent been introduced yet, they are not shown. If a word has

a letter than be represented using a Hanja character, most of the time the other characters can be

represented using Hanja characters as well. One of the main exceptions to this is which is

found in many (many!) Hanja words but itself cannot be represented using Hanja.

Common Words using this Character

= university

= to expand, zoom

= president

-

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= = Small

(Korean name: )

As with , this character is very common in restaurants or stores to indicate the size of an item.

While common in these applications, most words that use this character are difficult.

In order to draw this, we need to learn another stroke-order rule:

4) Draw minor strokes last.

Therefore, the first stroke of this character should be the major line in the middle:

Followed by the two ticks on both sides:

Common Words using this Character:

= small scale

= to minimize

= a child (small person)

-

= = Middle

(Korean name: )

This is one of the easiest characters to recognize because it is a box with a stroke through

the middle of it. Along with and , you will find in stores to indicate the size of an item. The

direct translation of China in Chinese is middle country, which explains why you will see this

character all over China and Chinese food restaurants.

In order to draw this, we need to learn more stroke-order rules:

5) If drawing a box: draw the left side first, followed by the top and right side (in one stroke) and

enclose it with the bottom line last, and

6) Draw major intersecting lines after drawing the components it will intersect

Therefore, the major stroke down the middle should be done last. The first thing we need to do is

draw the box, which should be done by following rule #5 above

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Following that, the stroke down the middle should be made:


= China

= middle school

= the center/middle

= intermediate/mid-level

= grammatical principle introduced in Lesson 33

= Also used as the present progressive: = under construction/being constructed

Now that you know , and , I want to share a story with you. One day, I went to the store to

buy onions. At the store, there was a big pile of onions, some in smaller bags, some in medium sized

bags, and some in very big bags. The prices were listed as:

1950

2500

4000

Although somebody could probably figure this out without the knowledge of these characters, Korea

is always ambiguous as a foreigner and having the confidence of knowing exactly what the prices

of these onions were made me happy. At that time, I wondered to myself What if I didnt know the

meaning of these characters?

-

= = Mountain

(Korean name: )

This is also one of the easiest characters for people to learn (and especially to recognize) because

the meaning is depicted in the actual character. All the stroke-order rules from above still apply. Note

that it technically makes no difference if you start with middle line or the line on the left (which then

continues to the bottom line). In cases where it is ambiguous as to which stroke you should start with,

it doesnt really matter where you begin. In fact, the stroke order is slightly different in Japanese,

Chinese and Korean customs. Therefore, depending on who you ask in times like this you might

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get different answers as to the correct stroke-order. However, my Hanja dictionary indicates that the

middle line should be drawn first, so that is how I will present it:

You will see this character all the time on information signs

directing people to various mountains. Most mountain names in Korean are named __ __ . For

example:

= Seol-ak mountain

= Buk-han mountain

= the city of Busan

= the city of Ulsan

-

= = Door

(Korean name: )

Many of the famous sightseeing attractions in Seoul are old gates (doors) around the city. The

names of these attractions/gates in Korea are usually ___ ___ .

In order to draw this, we need to learn another stroke-order rule:

7) When drawing a box with contents inside, draw the outline of the box (left, top and right) first, then

finish the contents within the box before enclosing it with the bottom stroke.

Therefore, the lines within the two boxes should be written before their respective closing strokes.


= door

= window

= Dongdaemun (major area in Seoul, refers to the big east door/gate

= Namdaemun (major area in Seoul, refers to the big south door/gate

= Gwang-hwa-mun (another major area/gate in Seoul)


These first five characters will get you started in your pursuit of learning Hanja. As the lessons

continue, you will start learning more and more difficult characters.


In the previous lesson you learned the most important Hanja Characters. Not only were these

characters common, but they also gave you a chance to start learning the basic stroke order of

Hanja characters. All of the characters introduced in this lesson will follow the same rules as the last

lesson, and are all important to know in your study of the Korean language.

-

= = Enter/Entrance

(Korean name: )

This is one of the characters that every Korean person is expected to know, as entrances in Korea

commonly use the Hanja version of this word instead of the Korean equivalent. Common Words using this Character:

= entrance

= to enter

= to import

= to be hospitalized (to enter the hospital)

-

= = Exit/To Exit

(Korean name: )

The opposite of , this character can be found on exits in Korea. It is common to find this character

used instead of its Korean equivalent. Notice that the major intersecting line is drawn after the top

part is finished, but before the bottom part is started. As this line doesnt intersect the line at the

bottom, it is drawn first. However, this is another character where there could be variations to the

stroke order depending on the governing body.

Common Words using this

Character:

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= exit

= childbirth

= to depart

= to leave a country

= to go out/leave

-

= = Mouth/Opening

(Korean name: )

Often found coupled with or to denote that there is an opening (an entrance or exit)

somewhere. Easy to remember because the character itself is simply an open square.


= entrance

= exit

= entrance/exit

-

= = Above/High

(Korean name: )

Most words that this character can be found in are difficult. However, it is commonly used by itself to

denote that something is high or above something.Another character where the picture itself

denotes the meaning.


= to raise a price

= heaven

= above ground

= upper body

= the first half

-

= = Underneath/Below/Low

(Korean name: )


The opposite of . Commonly used by itself to denote that something is low or beneath

something.


= to lower a price

= the world/earth

= underground

= lower body

= the second half

-


In this lesson, you will continue to learn the basic Hanja characters that are known by every Korean

person. Todays lesson will focus on characters related to time and space.

-

= = Day

(Korean name: )

This is another case where the Hanja character is often substituted for the Korean equivalent.

Commonly seen on bills, calendars or other places where you might find the word day.

The word Japan in Japanese means day origin. (). Therefore, you will see this character a lot

in Japan or Japanese restaurants. Also found in all the days of the week.


= tomorrow

= everyday

= daily life

= Japan

= Sunday

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= Monday

Other days of the week

-

= = Month

(Korean name: )

Another case where the Hanja character is often substituted for the Korean equivalent. Commonly

seen on bills, calendars or other places where you might find the word month. Also found in the

names of the months of the year.


= (monthly) paycheck

= (monthly) rent

= every month

= time

= Monday

1 = January

2 = February

3 = March

4 = April

Other months of the year

-

= = Year

(Korean name: )

Another case where the Hanja character is often substituted for the Korean equivalent. Commonly

seen on bills, calendars or other places where you might find the word year.

Common Words

using this Character:

= last year

= next year


= every year

= this year

= a grade in school (1st grade, 2nd grade, etc..)

-

= = Inside

(Korean name: )

Used in words that indicate something is inside, or an interior version of something.


= inside a place

= inside a country

= the interior part

= contents

= downtown (inside the city)

-

= = Outside

(Korean name: )

The opposite of , this character is used in words that indicate something is outside.


Character:

= foreign (outside country)

= foreigner

= except

= foreign country

= the exterior part

= to leave

= tutoring (schooling outside of school)

Hanja Lesson 4: , , , , ,


Click here for a PDF copy of all our Hanja lessons.

In this lesson, you will learn common Hanja characters that refer to people.

-

= = Person

(Korean name: )

Often used as the last letter (character) of a word to mean person. Due to its simplicity and

common meaning, this character can be recognized by all Korean people. It is commonly taught by

trying to imagine the character as a walking person.


= foreigner

= poet

= ones wife

= person(al)

= man, human, mankind

= a child (small person)

= a greeting

= popularity

-

= = Person

(Korean name: )

Technically called son , but this character can be found in words where the meaning is male or

female. The character is also a common radical that can be found in other, more complicated Hanja

characters.

A radical is a unit that can be found in other Chinese characters. For example, and are

different characters, but have contained within them.

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= girl

= man

= children

= sons and daughters

= chair

= hat

= table

-

= = Father

(Korean name: )

You probably wont see this character anywhere in your daily life, but it is one of the simplest and

most recognized Hanja characters in Korea.


= parents

= father

= parents of children at school

-

= = Mother

(Korean name: )

You probably wont see this character anywhere in your daily life, but it is one of the simplest and

most recognized Hanja characters in Korea. The stroke order of this one seems to break the rules of

stroke-order, as it is not how I would intuitively do it.



= parents

= parents of children at school

= mother tongue

= fathers sister (aunt on fathers side)

= mothers sister (aunt on mothers side)

-

= = Man, Male

(Korean word: )

Every Korean is expected to be able to recognize this character. I have seen many public restrooms

in Korea with only Hanja characters on the door to represent the appropriate room for each gender

(without any pictures, or other words).

This is the first time that you will draw a Hanja character that contains two radicals. You should

completely finish with one radical before starting to draw the second one. Even though it looks like

the line in the middle of the upper box is connected to the long line at the bottom, they are not

connected.

Common Words


= man

= male

= men and women

= oldest son


= younger brother

= husband

-

= / =Woman, Female

(Korean name: /)

As with , every Korean is expected to be able to recognize this character.

Notice that there are two ways to pronounce this character in Korean and its pronunciation

depends on the location of the character within a word. Typically, when a word begins with it is

pronounced as . When the character is found anywhere but the beginning of the word, it is

pronounced as .


= woman

= female

= goddess

= men and women

= younger sister

= sons and daughters

= a young girl

Hanja Lesson 5: , , , , , , , , , Click here for a PDF copy of all our Hanja lessons.

In this lesson, you will learn the Hanja characters for the numbers 1 to 10. You will learn how to read,

write and recognize , , , , , , , , and .

Numbers in Hanja

I have some bad news.

In this lesson, one of the Hanja characters you will learn is .

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You might be thinking to yourself: Oh! I know the Hanja character for .

You know one of the characters for . Just because you have learned a Hanja character that

corresponds to a Korean syllable, does not mean that is the only character that represents that

syllable. In fact, one Korean syllable can be represented by many different Hanja characters each

with a different meaning. For example:

is pronounced in Korean as . It has the meaning of day.

is pronounced in Korean as . It has the meaning of one.

The same can be said for many other Korean syllables. You do not need to know these characters

yet, but I want to present them to you to explain my point further:

is pronounced in Korean as . It means son. ( = children)

is pronounced in Korean as . It means person.. ( = patient)

is pronounced in Korean as . It means writing. ( = Hanja)

is pronounced in Korean as . It means automatic or oneself ( = freedom)

In addition to the above, there are more Hanja characters that can represent . Each with a

different meaning.

You can see the same thing with many Korean syllables. For example, can be represented by ,

, , , etc. All with the same pronunciation in Korean, but each with a different meaning.

When I first learned of this fact, I thought it was terrible because it meant that there were going to be

significantly more characters to learn than I originally thought. However, you dont need to worry

because you will be introduced to each character as they become important. For now, just sit back

and enjoy the ride.

-

= = One

(Korean name: )

The easiest Hanja character. Takes no effort to learn or reproduce.


= a part of something (one part)

= superlative like

-

= = Two

(Korean name: )

Slightly more difficult than . But I dont know if drawing two lines should be thought of as difficult.

-

= = Three

(Korean name: )

Same as above. Draw three lines.


= uncle (your uncle is three steps away from you)

= triangle (three sided shape)

-

= = Four

(Korean name: )

Okay, now we are back to something that is a little bit more difficult. I always remembered this

character because the box has four sides.

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Character:

= four seasons

= square

= rectangle

= cousin (your cousin is four steps away from you)

-

= = Five

(Korean name: ) Common Words using this Character:

= five senses

= pentagon

-

= / = Six

(Korean name: )

Dont confuse this character with :


= five or six

-

= = Seven

(Korean name: )

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-

= = Eight


= octagon

= a Jack of all trades (somebody who is good in all directions)

-

= = Nine

(Korean name: )

-

= = Ten


= dozens of (tens of)

Hanja Lesson 6: , , , Click here for a PDF copy of all our Hanja lessons.

In this lesson, you will learn how to represent the four cardinal directions in Hanja.

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= = East ()

(Korean name: )

This character is great because many stroke order rules come into play when drawing it. Notice that

the first stroke is the line at the top, moving right to left (Rule 1). Then, you need to draw the box in

the middle, but remember that you should start with the left side, and then top and right sides before

enclosing it (Rule 5). However, before enclosing it, you must draw the contents inside it (Rule 7).

Following that, you should draw the major intersecting line (Rule 6). Finally, you must draw the two

diagonal strokes starting with the stroke moving towards the bottom right (Rule 3).

You will see this character and the others below all over Korea, as the names of many places are

named using these cardinal directions. When these names are translated to English, they usually

just take on the English pronunciation of the respective Korean name. Therefore, a Korean learner of

Hanja might not be aware of the actual meaning that a location might possess.

For example, the neighborhood is translated to Dongdaemun in English. While Korean

people know the meaning of Dongdaemun, English speakers (even those learning Korean) might

not know. However, by knowing the Hanja characters that represent this name, we can understand

what the name represents. The Hanja equivalent of is . With the knowledge that you

have of these characters now, you should know that actually means Big east gate. Many

other places use these cardinal directions in their name.

Common Words


= the East (the orient)

= the Middle East = the East Sea

= East Asia

= Big East Gate. Dongdaemun (area and monument in Seoul)

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-

= = West

(Korean name: )

Much like , (and the other directions you will learn in this lesson) is used throughout Korea as

the names of various locations.

Common Words using

this Character:

= Seodaemun (area and monument in Seoul)

= the West (North America/Europe) = east and west

= the West Sea

-

= = North

(Korean name: )

As with the other characters, is used throughout Korea on various names of places.


Character:

= A North Korean defector

= A mountain range in the North of South Korea = North Korea

= the North Pole

-

= = South

(Korean name: )

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Common Words


= Namdaemun (area, famous market and monument in Seoul)

= Gangnam area (South of the river) !

= North and South Korea/The Koreas

= Antarctica


In the previous Lesson, I mentioned that I always try to introduce groups of characters that share a

similar theme in the same lesson. The theme in this lesson has nothing to do with the meaning of the

characters. Instead, all the characters in this lesson are easy to draw. Of course, because you are

still at Lesson 7, each character is very common in and around Korea. Because of their simplicity,

the characters in this lesson are recognized by the majority of Koreans.

-

= = King

(Korean name: )

There are a few words that contain this character, but it is usually just used by itself to mean king.

There are a few other words that you may find, but there usage is fairly limited (how often would you

say kings chamber?). Nonetheless, this is one of the most recognizable characters in Korea, and

is very simple to draw.


= king

= Sejong the great (big king)

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= queen (female king)

= queen

-

= = Heaven

(Korean name: )

Another common character with a simple meaning that is easy to draw.


= heaven (heaven country)

= the world (below heaven)

= an angel

= the Catholic Church

-

= = Hand

(Korean name: )

While this character technically means hand, you can find it in a number of words where the

connection to a hand is not very apparent. For example, is found in the word (a mistake).

However, it is hard to connect the word mistake to a hand. Nonetheless, there are other words

where the connection to hand is more obvious. As with the other characters in this lesson, the

simplicity of makes it very recognizable amongst Korean people.


= mistake

= surgery

= player/athlete

= to wash ones hands

= to clap ones hands

= to shake hands

= towel

= a check

= singer

-


= = Letter/Writing

(Korean name: )

Literally the in . Used in a variety of common words to have the meaning of letter or

writing.

Also notice that this character contains the radical , which is also pronounced as ( ).

Common Words using

this Character:

= letter, character

= upper-case letter

= lower-case letter

= Korean Chinese characters

-

= = Person

(Korean name: )

The name of this character is , which translates to number . It would be much better if

this character was called because this character is usually used to indicate that something

is a person. Only in some words will you see this character have the meaning of number.

You will often find this as the last character in a noun. The characters before are usually other

Hanja characters that describe the type of person. For example, means research, and can be

represented as in Hanja. By placing as the last character, we get , which means

researcher.

Also notice that the picture itself actually looks like a person, which makes this an easy character to

remember.


Common Words


= employee/staff member

= government worker

= member (of a gym, for example)

= employee/staff member

= employee/worker

= number of people

= researcher

= member of some important government position (congress or something similar)


In this lesson, you will learn five characters that all have meanings related to countries.

-

= = Korea

(Korean name: )

Drawing the character is somewhat difficult as a beginner because there are a lot of strokes that

need to be performed. A lot of times a complex character also has a complex meaning and is not

very common in Korea. However, this character literally means Korea, so you can find it in many

places. Writing around any government buildings, web-pages or documents is often very formal,

therefore the Hanja characters are often written as well.

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Common Words using

this Character:

= Korea

= The Republic of Korea (official name of Korea)

= traditional Korean clothing

= North Korea

= North and South Korea

= a Korean person

= Korean language

-

= = Country

(Korean name: )

While this character is slightly difficult to draw at first, it is very recognizable because few characters

look similar to it. Definitely one of the characters that every Korean person is expected to be able to

recognize. The names of many countries end in in Korean. It would also be beneficial to be able

to recognize the simplified version of this character; both because it is very common and because it

is easy to recognize ()


Common Words


= Korea

= China

= heaven

= international

= The Republic of Korea

= ones homeland (motherland)

= ones mother tongue

= a whole country

= Korean person

= a foreign country

= a foreigner

= inside a country

-

= = The people (of a country)

(Korean name: )

Used along with other characters to represent the masses of a population.


Character:

= The Republic of Korea

= the people of a country

= citizen

= resident

= democracy

-

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= = Beautiful/United States

(Korean name: )

This character is actually written on signs all over Korea in its Hanja form therefore, everybody

should be able to recognize it. The most common places you will find it is on signs designating that a

store is a beauty-parlor/hair-salon.

The United States in Korea (and Chinese for that matter) literally translates to beautiful country.

As a Canadian, I take offense to that.

Common Words


= the United States

= an American

= Art

= a beautiful person

= a beautiful woman

= beauty parlor

= a beautiful man (pretty boy)

-

= = Korea/China

(Korean name: )

You learned earlier that the character means Korea. It is very easy for learners to be confused

between and , which are both . You will find the character on various things around or

in Korea in relation to the Han River (the river that goes through Seoul). However, is typically

used to refer to things that literally refer to the country of Korea (for example, the country itself, the

language and the people).



= writing Korean in Chinese characters

= Hanja

= Hanyang (an old name for the city of Seoul)

= Hanseong (an old name for the city of Seoul)

= Han River (the river that goes through Seoul)

= Bukhansan (mountain range in the north of Seoul)


In this lesson, you will learn five words that all relate to water in one way or another. Most very

simple, all very common.

-

= = River

(Korean name: )

Whenever you see the radical the meaning of the who character usually relates to water in

some way. is very easy to remember because of this water designation, plus the part of the

character looks like a flowing to me. The part of the character actually has a purpose of

indicating pronunciation in Chinese, but for the casual learner of Hanja (at this point), you dont need

to worry about it.

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Common Words


= river

= the Han River

= north of the river

= a mouth of a river (estuary)

= popular district in Seoul (Gangnam) south of the river

For the first time, all the words above contain only Hanja characters! Woohoo!

-

= = Water

(Korean name: )

Whereas specifically refers to a river, refers to water in general.


= drink/beverage

= perfume

= natural/spring water

= lake

= flood

= moisture

= waste water

= water damage

= swimming

= water that one uses through plumbing (it comes up [] through the pipes)

Notice that it becomes increasingly easier to understand the meaning of a character in a word if you

know the meaning of the other characters and the translation in English. For example, ()

means waste water. Through this, you can easily deduce that the meaning of the character

means waste.

-


= = Stream

(Korean name: )

Actually, this character is not found in very many common Korean words. Drawing this character

however is very easy and with its relation to water words, I decided to introduce it in this lesson.

The picture is supposed to represent a flowing stream.


= the city of Incheon

= a small stream

= the name of a (man-made) stream in the center of Seoul

-

= / = Cold

(Korean name: )

Not to get on a whole Korean language history lesson here, but traditional Korean words didnt have

as the first letter in a syllable of a word. Instead, it was pronounced as . So, depending on

the position of this character, it could be pronounced as or . Note that newer words that have

made their way into the Korean language borrowed from other languages can have as the first

letter of the word (for example, , , etc). Used to indicate that something is cold.


= Naeng-myeon (cold noodle dish)

= refrigerator

= freezer

= air conditioning

-

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= = Origin

(Korean name: )

Not entirely related to water, but water has to originate from somewhere, right? No? Haha, anyways,

a very common character that is also found in the name of Japan.


Character:

= Japan (day origin)

= Japanese person

= originally

= an original document

= basic/fundamental

= root, basis

= capital (in business)


In this lesson, you will learn five characters that are related to ones body or ones feelings.

-

= = Heart/Emotions

(Korean name: )

Though this character literally means heart, it often is used in words to describe the center of

something or ones feelings.


= heart (organ)

= the center

= the main point/focus

= mentality


= curiosity

= suspicion

-

= = Body

(Korean name: ) Common Words


= oneself

= position/status

= you

= mind and body

-

= = Body

(Korean name: )

Very complicated writing this character, but it comes up a lot in various words. While the strokes

might look complicated, if you learn how to write it stroke-by-stroke, you will see that it actually isnt

that difficult.


Common Words


= physical education

= experience

= strength/stamina/physical ability

= everything/all of

= physical

= an organism

= group/organization

-

= = Feeling/Emotion

(Korean name: )


Common Words


= emotion

= sense/feeling

= impression

= confidence

= the flu

= to sense something beforehand

= an uncomfortable feeling

-

= = Family/House

(Korean name: )

Usually used on words with some sort of relation to family or ones family house. However, it is

also sometimes used as the last character in a word to denote a profession.

Common Words


= country

= family


= furniture

= novelist

= painter

= specialist

= author

= family


In this lesson, you will learn five new characters that are all related to names. In addition to

three actual surnames, you will learn two other characters that are typically found in words dealing

with names.

-

= = Name

(Korean name: )

You come across this character a lot in Korea, and it is sometimes used on government forms to ask

for ones name.

Common words using

this character:

= signature

= business card

= noun

= proper noun

= list of names

= famous

-

= = Thing

(Korean name: )

Its hard to give definitions for a lot of these words because the character just means

thing/product. Usually, the other character in the word can inform the reader/listener what type of

product is being referred to.

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Common words using

this character:

= some sort of work/art piece

= some sort of product/goods


= some sort of food product


= some sort of medical product

= item

= quality (of a product)

= cosmetic product

-

=/ = Common Surname, Gold/Money

(Korean name: , )

There are literally millions of people in Korea with the surname (Kim). This character is used to

represent this last name, and is very important to be able to know/recognize because most (if not all)

people in Korean know how to write their name using characters.

When use it to represent the last name, this character is pronounced as .

However, it can also have the meaning of gold/money. When used to represent gold, it is

pronounced as .


Common words using

this character:

= Yuna Kim (famous Korean figure skater)

I could go on and on listing Korean people with the family name

= charge/fare

= gold

= a withdrawal

= cash

= metal

= interest rate

= scholarship

-

= / = Common Surname

(Korean name: ) (recently referred to as /)

The second most common surname in Korea. Equally as important as because, as I said,

everybody knows how to write their name using and people often do.

While this character has a meaning (and usage) aside from the surname, you will probably only

come across those words if you specifically set out to be a scholar.

Common words using

this character:


= (Seulgi Lee) My girlfriends name

Again, I could go on and on listing Korean people with the family name

-

= = Common Surname, Right/Proper/Correct

(Korean name: )

The meaning of this word is fairly difficult, and the words that it is found in are also difficult. However,

the character itself is easy to draw and I specifically wanted to introduce this character to you before

introducing similar looking characters in upcoming lessons (and many other characters contain this

radical) for example: .

is usually found in difficult words where the meaning is related to something being or

changing to/from something right/correct/proper/normal.

In addition to difficult words, it is a relatively common character in Korean names.

One other interesting note the strokes of this character are often used by Korean people to count

things, much like we do in the West with drawing four vertical strokes and then crossing them all out

with a horizontal stroke to count to five ( | | | | ). Common words using this

character:

(Dont be alarmed if you know none of these words. Most of them are fairly difficult)

= revision

= normal

= proofreading

= corruption


In this lesson, the central theme is to do/have and to not do/have. Here, you will find characters

related to this.

-


= = To not have

(Korean name: )

A common character that you will find placed to virtually anything to indicate that there is nothing of

something. For example, you might read a package that would say . Note that this is

identical in meaning to .

Common words

using this character:

= unconditionally (without condition)

= free (without money)

= unconscious (without conscious)

= blindly (without a plan)

= unlimited (without restriction)

= indifference (without relation)

-

= = to not be

(Korean name: )

Quite similar to , but not exactly the same. is essentially the opposite of = to be ( =

to not be) whereas is essentially the opposite of = to have ( = to not have). Although a

distinction between and can be made, it generally is irrelevant to the casual learner of ,

and is more important if one starts to study Chinese.

Common words using this character:

= shortage

= unfair


= corruption

= real-estate agent

-

= = To use

(Korean name: )

Aside from typical verbs/nouns that have a meaning related to to use, this character is often found

after nouns to reflect the group of people who would typically use an object. Learning this character

is very beneficial to your Korean studies because most people dont actually memorize the words

or . However, by knowing the meaning/usage of , you can apply it to many

situations.

Common words using this

character:

= goods, articles

= something for family use

= household articles

= something for student use

= something for military use

= terminology

= to use

= car

-

= = Half

(Korean name: )

Used to represent the word half. Very easy to recognize because the character itself is divided into

two equal halves.



character:

= half

= peninsula (half an island)

= the second half

= the second half of a year

= the first half of a year

= half of a year

= a half-moon

-

= = White

(Korean name: ) Common words using this

character:

= a person with white skin (white person)

= black and white

= swan

= protein


In this lesson, you will learn five Hanja characters relating to school.

-

= = Learn/School

(Korean name: )


Although fairly complicated, this is one of the characters all Korean people are expected to know. As

such, it is not uncommon to find the version of this character used in place of the version.

A lot of the words where this character can be found are very common.

Common words using

this character:

= ones grade (year) in school

= student

= to enter a school (admission)

= parents of students in school

= school

= scholar

= Hakwon (study academy)

= scholarship

= science

= mathematics

= high school

= middle school

= elementary school

= university student

= a break from school (vacation)

-

= = Life/Born

(Korean name: )


I included this character in this lesson because of its use in the word . However, this character

can be found all over Korea, and is another example of a character that Koreans are expected to

know. It is often used to indicate freshness at restaurants, or is used in words to have the meaning

of life (or something related).


character:

= life/living

= student

= university student

= younger brother

= younger sister

= ones entire life

= male student

= female student

= birthday

= to occur/arise

= biology

= draft beer

-

= = School

(Korean name: )

This character is common and I highly suggest you memorize it but not all Korean people would be

able to recognize/reproduce this character. It has a similar meaning, and is often found in words with

. However, this character more relates to the school than the learner.


Common words using

this character:

= school

= girls school

= boys school

= university

= middle school

= inside a school

= to leave school (the opposite is not )

= vice principal

= principal

= education

= school uniform

-

= = First

(Korean name: )

The main meaning of this character is to indicate that one thing precedes another (as in, to come

first). It can also be found in the word . Aside from , most of the other words that it

can be found in are comprised of difficult characters.

Common words using

this character:

= teacher (there is no way to write using )

= first, above all


= ones senior in school

= first come first served

-

= = Teacher

(Korean name: )

Most commonly found after another character indicating the name of a profession. The

professions that usually describe are those that commonly require a lot of studying. Amazingly,

the word is not , but rather which contains another (more complicated) that

you have yet to learn. Common words using

this character:

= ambassador

= lecturer/instructor

= chef/cook

= doctor

= nurse

= Korean/Oriental doctor

= pharmacist


In this lesson, you will learn five characters relating to the public, cities or working together.

-

= = Public/Shared/Equal

(Korean name: )


The Korean name of this character translates to equal/fair , but you will also find this character in

a variety of words relating to the public.


= park

= leading role in a story

= performance

= fair/equal

= princess

= public (the other is , which you have not learned yet)

= somebody who works for the government

= to make something public/announce

-

= = City

(Korean name: )

The words that this character can be found in relate to the word city.

You can also find this character after the names of cities in Korean.


character:

= citizen

= downtown

= big city

= small city

= the (special) City of Seoul

= the City of Uijeongbu


= the City of Ansan

= market(place)

= city

-

= = District/Division

(Korean name: )

The word acts as a level of division for parts of a city sort of like how borough, district or

county divide parts of states/cities in the US. Within a city, there will be many . Within a there

will be many . You will find this character after the names of various in Korean, or in regular

words with the meaning division.

I also like this character because the picture depicts the meaning. I picture the outer box as the city,

with the small inner boxes as the respective within the city.

Common words using

this character:

= division

= distinguish

= area/district

= the City of Seoul, Gangnam district

= section

Here is an example of where your knowledge of Hanja characters can pay off. While looking into a

list of words that contain the character , I came across the word (). I have never seen

this word before (in Korean or in ) and I know exactly what it meant as soon as I saw it. With the

meaning of being district and being people/citizens of an area, it is clear that

represents the people who live in a certain district.

-


= = Neighborhood

(Korean name: )

Aside from being in words that have some relation to neighborhood, you will also find this character

in the names of neighborhoods. The word acts as a level of division for parts of the city, sort of

like how borough or county divide parts of states/cities in the US.


= the City of Seoul, Gangnam district, Suseo neighborhood

= inside a neighborhood (not to be confused with , which actually means neighborhood)

= the entrance to a neighborhood

= the name of a popular neighborhood in Seoul

-

= = Combine, Unite

(Korean name: )

This character is mostly found in more difficult words, but the simplicity of its scripture (and simple

meaning when used by itself) makes it very recognizable for Korean people.

Common words using

this character:

= agreement

= put together

= combine

= rational



In this lesson, you will learn five characters relating places and locations.

-

= = Place/Location

(Korean name: )

You will specifically find this character after nouns indicating the place in which something happens.

For example, the word translates to performance. While you might never actively study the

word (), with your knowledge of this character, you can assume that this word means

the place that a performance occurs (a theatre, venue, etc).

Common words using

this character:

= market

= factory

= the site/place that something happens

= exercise yard

= theatre

= workplace

= office worker

= parking lot

= store

= farm

Notice above that you can assume the meaning of the other characters in the word. For example,

() is found in words meaning work, () is found in words related to selling, () is

found in words relating to farming.

-


= = Room

(Korean name: )

Much like , is often used after a noun to indicate a room that something takes place.

Common words using

this character:

= inside/inside a room/house

= a kings room/house

= classroom

= beauty parlor

= a teachers office

= research room

= a room in a hospital

= bathroom, restroom

= office (for work)

-

= = Food

(Korean name: )

This word has little to do with locations, but I didnt set aside a lesson specifically for food, so I am

introducing this character here. It can however be found in the word restaurant (), which is why

I chose to introduce it in this lesson.


Common words using

this character:

= eating out

= food products

= food poisoning

= restaurant

= work dinner

= food

= meal

-

= = Land, Earth

(Korean name: ) Common words using

this character:

= underground

= above ground

= area, region

= area, region

= Earth

= land, ground

= farmland

= geography

-

= = Area, Region, Side

(Korean name: )

There really isnt one way that I can describe how this character is used. A lot of the time (but not all

the time), you will find this character used in words related to a place or direction.



= area, region

= one side(d)

= in every direction (four sides)

= northern region

= direction

= direction

= method

= method


In this lesson, you will learn five characters related to time.

-

= = Time


this character:

= time

= at that time

= the same time

= a moment

= time

= clock


= the same time

= the time or days one used to do something (my school days, university days, etc)

-

= = Time, Period


this character:

= time

= the second half of a year

= the first half of a year

= semester

= a quarter (of a year in business)

= the latter part of something

= the beginning part of something

-

= = Space, Interval, Between

(Korean name: )

While often used with words of time, this character itself usually means the space between two

things. Similar to , also acts as a grammatical principle in Korean sentences as well. It is

used to indicate that one does something amongst (between) things/people. For example:

= The teacher distributed the class materials amongst the

students

It is also used as a grammatical principle to indicate a possible outcome of multiple situations. For

example:

= If you want to go to

University or not, you need to study


Common words

using this character:

= time

= period

= the middle of

= man, human

= moment

= space/room to do something

= in the span of a year

= section

-

= = Same


this character:

= same time

= same time

= to be the same as

= younger brother

= younger sister

= joint, congruent

= community

= agreement

-

= = One Hundred/Everything/Total

(Korean name: )

Very little to do with time, but I couldnt find any other place to put this simple character.


Common words using

this character:

= one hundred

= department store

= encyclopedia

= one hundred days (the 100th day birthday of a child, or the 100th day of a couples

relationship.


In this lesson, you will learn five characters that are used in words describing parts or a whole of

something.

-

= = Division, Part

(Korean name: )

= = Division, Part, Minute

(Korean name: )

You will find that these two characters have very similar meanings. In fact, they both have the same

Korean name. You can find both of these characters in a variety of words (and sometimes used

together) related to parts/divisions of something.

The main difference between the two is that is also the word for minute as in, divisions of an

hour.


Common words using these characters:

= most

= part, section

= one part

= inside part

= outside part

= headquarters (original office)

= components of a product

-

= = Many/Most/All


this character:

= majority

= the vast majority

= variety

-

= = Number

(Korean name: )

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In addition to the words that this can be found in, you will also see this character used after many

nouns to indicate that one is referring to the number of that noun.

Common words using

this character:

= majority

= the vast majority

= mathematics

= score

= tens of

= hundreds of

= the number of strokes in a Chinese character

-

= = Whole, All


this character:

= the whole of something

= the whole country

= all parts


= all people

= perfect, complete


In this lesson, you will learn five characters relating to the present or new things.

-

= = New

(Korean name: )

It is not uncommon to see this character written out in on a new product to indicate that it is

new.

Common words using

this character:

= freshman (new student)

= rookie

= new city

= new product

= newspaper

= bride

= innovation


-

= = Current

(Korean name: )

You can not only find this character in a variety of common words, but you can also find it (combined

with the following character) plastered across buildings in Seoul. Although the company

(Hyundai) is known as a car company in Canada/the United States, it is actually an international

conglomerate with their hands in everything. One thing they are involved in is construction, and you

can find their logo all over Korea.

Common words using

this character:

= Hyundai Corporation

= modern times

= current

= cash

= the scene of something

-

= = Generation, Representative

(Korean name: )

You can find the character all over Korea on the awnings of businesses. Beside this character,

you will often see a phone number written. The character is used in these cases to indicate that

one should call that number if he/she would like to contact a representative of that company.



character:

= a time, age, generation

= modern times

= representative

= modern man

= generation

= new generation

= ancient times

-

= = Culture, Writing

(Korean name: )

There are many academic subjects that end with the character . These subjects generally refer

to the written component of the previous character.


= culture

= literature

= Chinese characters

= humanities/liberal arts

= an official (public) document

= civilization

-

= = Change

(Korean name: )



= culture

= change

= restroom, washroom

= chemistry

= make up

= make up products

= popular culture


In this lesson, you will learn five characters related to power, strength and trust.

-

= = Power

(Korean name: )

You will notice that a lot of western people have this character tattooed on their body. Not only is the

character simple, but its meaning of power is something that people feel is worth putting on their

body.


= manpower

= ones physical strength

= effort

= ones memory

= violence

= ability

= pressure


-

= = Strength


this character:

= strengthen

= strong person

= strong

= emphasis

= ones strong points

= a powerful nation (not common in conversation, but its meaning is easy to understand now

that you know the three component characters within the word)

-

= = Weak

(Korean name: )

I see this character all the time on the subway in Seoul indicating that the specific car I am in is the

one with weak air-conditioning.

Common words using

this character:


= weaken

= weak person

= the old and weak

= ones weak points

= a small and weak (not powerful) nation

-

= = Fire

(Korean name: )

I dont really use many words containing this character in everyday life, but this is specifically one of

the elementary characters that all Korean people can recognize.


= Tuesday

= volcano

= firepower

= to burn something

-

= = Trust/Believe


this character:

= credit

= faith, confidence


= faith/religious belief

= betrayal


In this lesson you will learn five characters related to the earth.

-

= = Earth

(Korean name: ) Common words using this character:

= land, ground

= Saturday

= a countrys land, territory

-

= = Man/Humankind

(Korean name: ) Common words using this

character:

= the world

= generation

= new generation

= the Middle Ages

-

= = Tree

(Korean name: )


Another elementary character that doesnt come up much in conversation, but is one of the

characters that most Korean people know. Technically can be used to mean tree, but the Korean

word is used much more often.


= Thursday

-

= = Ball, Circle


this character:

= Earth

= soccer

= soccer field

= baseball

= baseball field

= basketball

= volleyball

-

= = To be Set up/Established

(Korean name: )



= national

= national park

= national high school

= national university

= private

= independent


hanja

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