Korean Combination Words | When 2 Korean Words Combine To Make A New Word

Welcome back or welcome to another lesson. This lesson is all about one of the most interesting concepts in Korean. The official name may or may not be "combination" words but that's exactly how I will describe them.

Like I said they are 2 Korean words that independent of each other have their own meanings, but when they are combined they create an entirely new word. This makes it super easy to learn these vocabulary words, because you may already know the individual words - Let's take a look!

List Of "Combination" Words:

물고기

Water - 물

Meat - 고기

You may already know this word. It means "Fish" in Korean. Yum.. water meat sounds lovely.

얼룩말

Spot; Stain - 얼룩

Horse - 말

A stained horse you say? What could this mean..? Oh, It means "Zebra" in Korean.

물개

Water - 물

Dog - 개

I've always wanted a dog.. not so much a water dog though. Isn't illegal to have one of those as a pet anyways!? I'm talking of course about a "seal". It's obvious from the words.

목소리

Neck - 목

Sound - 소리

Neck sounds? I'm sorry but that sounds disgusting to me. This means "voice" in Korean. Yuck!

콧물

Nose - 코

Water - 물

This one doesn't sound much better than the last, since It's much more tolerable for me. But "snot" really is just nose water. It makes more sense to me.

눈물

Eye - 눈

Water - 물

You probably know this one already too. When water is coming from your eyes, It's usually "tears".

불꽃

Fire - 불

Flower - 꽃

Lots of people celebrate with "fireworks" on New Years. A bit loud for my liking, though I enjoy the colors.

화산

Fire - 화

Mountain - 산

A fire mountain? Sounds dangerous. The mountain part makes it seem like you can climb it, but you definitely shouldn't be climbing "volcanoes".

늦잠

To be Late - 늦다

Sleep - 잠

Lots of people "oversleep" way too often. Not me, but you know... moving on.

발목

Foot - 발

Neck - 목

Again with the neck? A foot neck. Wow, what could this possibly be!? It's your "ankle" of course, because the neck of your leg is definitely your ankle.

손목

Hand - 손

Neck - 목

Okay, seriously! What is with Korean and necks?! I suppose if your leg has a neck so does your arm. And what is the neck of your arm? Your "wrist".

바다꼬기리

Sea - 바다

Elephant - 꼬기라

Last but not least we have a sea elephant to end the lesson. This one is less obvious. It's a "walrus". I would have never guessed that.

List of Individual Words:

물 = water

개 = dog

눈 = eye

고기 = meat

얼룩 = spot; stain

말 = horse

화 = anger

산 = mountain

목 = neck

소리 = sound

불 = fire

꽃 = flower

늦다 = to be late

잠 = sleep

바다 = sea

꼬끼리 = elephant

코 = nose

손 = hand

발 = ankle

---

That's all for this post! A really quick and fun lesson. I hope you enjoyed and If you know more words like this comment below and maybe I'll add on to this post. Leave a like also I would appreciate that. See you in the next lesson!