Korean Word Origins

#1 Emotional expressions

어이없다

so dumbfounded that you are left speechless

From the eoi, the handle of a millstone — without it, the stone cannot be turned, leaving you helpless and dumbfounded.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#2 Expressions of behavior

시치미 떼다

to play dumb; to feign ignorance

From falconry: removing the sichimi — the name tag tied to a hawk's tail — to pass off someone else's hawk as your own.

Goryeo Dynasty Read →

#3 Everyday expressions

미주알고주알

down to the tiniest detail; every little thing, one by one

From mijua (the far end of the small intestine) and gojua (the tailbone near the anus) — probing the deepest, most hidden parts of the body.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#4 Loanword origins

건달

an idler; a good-for-nothing who lives off others without working

From the Sanskrit gandharva — the journey of a celestial Buddhist musician who, over centuries, became the Korean word geondal.

Three Kingdoms period Read →

#5 Loanword origins

주책없다

to act erratically and inconsistently, with no firm center

From the Buddhist term juchak (主着), meaning a "core conviction" — to be juchaek-eopda is to have none.

Goryeo Dynasty Read →

#6 Sino-Korean origins

서랍

a drawer; a pull-out box for storing things

From the Sino-Korean seolhap (舌盒) — a box (盒) that slides out like a tongue (舌).

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#7 Emotional expressions

아이고

an exclamation uttered when one is tired, distressed, or startled

Most likely from the Sino-Korean aego (哀苦), "sorrowful and bitter" — how a cry of pain became an all-purpose exclamation.

Before the Three Kingdoms period Read →

#8 Sino-Korean origins

도대체

on earth; in the world — an intensifier of doubt or frustration

From the Sino-Korean dodaeche (到大體), "to reach the great essence" — meaning to probe a matter to its very root.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#9 Nature and tools

깍쟁이

a stingy, tightfisted person

From kkakjeongi, an empty acorn shell — a person as hollow as a shell with no kernel inside.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#10 Sino-Korean origins

도무지

not at all; no matter how hard one tries

From the Sino-Korean domuji (都無知), "to know nothing at all."

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#11 Emotional expressions

아차

the sound you make the instant you realize you have made a mistake

One theory traces it to the Sino-Korean acha (我差, "I have erred") — the cry of self-reproach that escapes you the moment you slip up.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#12 State expressions

귀찮다

unwilling and bothersome; not worth the trouble

It evolved from the Middle Korean guui-hada ("to be averse to"): guui-chanda → gwichanda → gwichanta.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#13 Action expressions

무턱대고

to charge ahead without a thought or a plan

mu ("without") + teok ("a standard, a measure") + daego ("to set against") → to barge ahead with no standard to go by.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#14 Everyday expressions

버릇

a habit; a behavior one repeats again and again

A noun derived from byeoreuda ("to whet and hone; to prepare over time").

Goryeo Dynasty Read →

#15 Action expressions

부랴부랴

in a great rush; hurrying frantically

A doubled, intensified form of burida ("to hurry") — the sense of haste stacked twice for emphasis.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#16 Descriptions of states

생뚱맞다

completely out of place and out of the blue

An altered form of saeng-dung-matda, used for something utterly unexpected that arrives all of a sudden.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#17 Everyday expressions

아무렴

of course it is so

A contraction of amu-ryeomyeon — "no matter how you look at it, it is naturally so."

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#18 Everyday expressions

언뜻

in a brief, fleeting glimpse

Related to eolpit, an adverb that captures something passing by in a quick, momentary flash.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#19 Everyday expressions

엉터리

something shoddy, sloppy, and not done properly

Said to come from the eongteori quack — an incompetent physician — and used for anyone whose work is half-baked and unreliable.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#20 Sino-Korean origins

창피하다

to feel ashamed and unable to face others

From the Chinese characters 猖披 ("something fierce laid bare") — the shame of having what you wanted to hide exposed.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#21 Sino-Korean origins

횡재

to gain wealth unexpectedly; a windfall

From the Chinese characters 橫財 ("wealth that came sideways") — riches that arrive unexpectedly from the side rather than head-on.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#22 Sino-Korean origins

무심결에

absentmindedly, without thinking, before you realize it

From 無心結 ("a moment with no knot in the mind") — the instant when the knot of conscious intent comes undone.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#23 Expressions of behavior

너스레

a stream of lively, playful chatter

Derived from neoseolgeorida ("to ramble on at length") — the art of spinning out talk in a cheerful, engaging way.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#24 Expressions of state

아리송하다

to be unclear and hazy; vague and hard to pin down

Formed from arida ("faint, almost-but-not-quite graspable") plus the suffix "-songhada."

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#25 Emotional expressions

어처구니없다

so astounded that no words will come out

From the eocheoguni, the handle of a millstone's upper stone — a sibling word to eoi-eopda.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#26 Expressions of Action

꼼짝

the slightest bit of movement

A shortened form of "kkomjirak," a mimetic word depicting tiny, faint movements.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#27 Sino-Korean Origin

안절부절

to be so anxious one doesn't know what to do with oneself

From the Chinese characters 安絶不絶 ("peace severed, then not severed") — a state in which one's peace of mind keeps breaking and reconnecting.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#28 Sino-Korean Origin

살벌하다

the atmosphere is frightening and menacing

From the Chinese characters 殺伐 ("to kill and punish") — how the bloodlust of the battlefield became an everyday expression.

Three Kingdoms Period Read →

#29 Sino-Korean Origin

허세

a show of strength that is all surface and no substance

From the Chinese characters 虛勢 ("empty force") — hollow inside, yet putting on a strong front.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#30 Everyday Expressions

멋

refined beauty, style, and grace

Derived from "maepsi" (one's look or attire) — outward beauty that expanded to embrace inner grace.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#31 Historical Origin

을씨년스럽다

looking bleak, desolate, and eerie

An altered form of "eulsa-nyeon-seureopda," born from the grim mood of 1905 — the year (乙巳年, Eulsa) when Korea was stripped of its diplomatic sovereignty.

Korean Empire Period Read →

#32 Sino-Korean origins

가게

a small shop where goods are sold

From the Sino-Korean word gaga (假家), meaning "a temporary house," which settled over time into the word gage.

Late Joseon Dynasty Read →

#33 Historical origin (folk theory)

어영부영

doing things halfheartedly, drifting along without any clear action

Said to come from mocking the Eoyeongcheong (御營廳), a Joseon military garrison whose discipline had collapsed, as "not even a real army."

Late Joseon Dynasty Read →

#34 Historical origin

안성맞춤

a perfect fit for the need or the occasion

From the made-to-order brassware of Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, a town famous for its custom metalwork.

Late Joseon Dynasty Read →

#35 Folk origin (popular theory)

노다지

a rich vein of ore that keeps yielding, or a big windfall gained with little effort

A famous theory traces it to foreigners shouting "No touch" at a gold mine, but scholars dismiss this as a baseless folk etymology.

Late Korean Empire Read →

#36 Loanword origins

십팔번

your signature song or party trick — the one thing you do best

From the "Kabuki Juhachiban" (十八番), the eighteen signature plays that a famous kabuki acting house designated as its finest repertoire.

Japanese colonial period Read →

#37 Folk origins (popular legend)

화수분

wealth or an object that never runs dry, no matter how much you draw from it

Said to come from hasubun (河水盆), a giant basin filled with water from the Yellow River — but the sound change is unexplained, so the origin remains uncertain.

Origin unknown (folklore-based) Read →

#38 Folk origins

헹가래

the act of celebrating someone by tossing them up and down on many people's hands

A native Korean word born from the rhythm of the garae, a digging tool that several people had to push and pull together.

The agrarian age Read →

#39 Folk origins

단골

a place one always patronizes, or such a regular customer

From dangol (also danggol), which in the Honam region named both a hereditary shaman and the worshippers devoted to that shaman.

Traditional shamanic society Read →

#40 Folk origins

산통 깨다

to ruin something just as it was about to come together

From smashing the santong (算筒), the canister of fortune-telling sticks a diviner drew from, leaving them unable to tell fortunes.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#41 Sino-Korean origins

사글세

monthly rent paid each month for a place to live

From sagwolse (朔月貰), meaning "rent paid month by month," which shifted in pronunciation to become sageulse.

Modern era Read →

#42 Folk origins (popular theories)

빈대떡

a savory pancake made from ground mung beans

The popular theory derives it from binja-tteok (貧者떡), "the poor person's cake," but rival theories — including a Chinese phonetic borrowing — make it hard to pin down.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#43 Folk origins

오지랖 넓다

to meddle excessively and needlessly in other people's affairs

A figure of speech: if the ojirap — the front panel of an outer garment — is too wide, it ends up covering other people's clothes too.

The age of traditional hanbok Read →

#44 Folk origins

칠칠하다

tidy and capable in temperament or in handling tasks

Originally a positive word meaning "neat and competent"; it simply gets used far more often in the negative, as in "chilchil-chi mothada."

Traditional Korean Read →

#45 Folk origins

꼬치꼬치

the manner of probing or questioning down to every last detail

A doubling of the old word kkochi (from got), meaning "skewer" — evoking sharp, pointed questioning, as if jabbing with a skewer.

Middle to Early Modern Korean Read →

#46 Buddhist origins

이판사판

a last-ditch situation where you have hit a dead end and there is nothing left to be done

A blend of ipan (理判) and sapan (事判) from Buddhist Hwaeom scholarship; Joseon's history of despising monks gave the word its negative weight.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#47 Buddhist origin

야단법석

a noisy, boisterous scene of many people gathered together in commotion

From a great open-air Buddhist sermon — a platform raised in a field (野壇, yadan) where the dharma was preached (法席, beopseok).

Ancient era to Joseon Dynasty Read →

#48 Buddhist origin

아수라장

a scene of horrific chaos caused by a fight or disaster

From the battlefield (場) waged by Asura (阿修羅), the ever-warring demon-god of Buddhism.

Ancient era Read →

#49 Buddhist origin

점심

the midday meal; lunch

From the morsel a Seon (Zen) monk would eat when hunger stirred — just a touch, as if "placing a dot (點) on the mind (心)."

Ancient era to Goryeo Dynasty Read →

#50 Buddhist origin

무진장

so much it cannot be counted; inexhaustibly abundant

In Buddhism, the "inexhaustible treasury" (無盡藏) — the boundless virtue and truth of the Buddha that can never be drawn dry.

Ancient era Read →

#51 Historical Origin

흥청망청

Spending money or goods wastefully while reveling in pleasure; living it up extravagantly.

From the heungcheong (興淸), court entertainers whom King Yeonsangun gathered from across the land — people said his reign collapsed because of them, so the syllable mang (亡, "to ruin") was added to heungcheong to coin the word.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#52 Historical Origin

거덜나다

To go completely broke; for one's wealth or household to be utterly wiped out or ruined.

From the geodeol, a servant of the Sabok-si — the royal office in charge of the court's palanquins and horses — who strutted about swaying his body grandly.

Goryeo–Joseon Dynasty Read →

#53 Historical Origin

마누라

An informal — and somewhat lowering — way to refer to one's middle-aged wife; roughly "the missus."

Originally manora, an honorific of the highest order — equal to mama — used for the king and queen themselves.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#54 Historical Origin

영감

An old man; also a term an elderly wife uses for her husband.

In the Joseon era, yeonggam (令監) was an official title of respect for high-ranking officials, from senior third-rank dangsang officers up to junior second rank.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#55 Sino-Korean Origin

숙맥

A naive, simple person who lacks judgment and is oblivious to the ways of the world.

A shortened form of sukmaek-bulbyeon (菽麥不辨), "unable to tell beans from barley."

Warring States period (China) – Joseon Dynasty Read →

#56 Folk Origin

부리나케

In a great hurry; at top speed.

From buri nage ("so as to make fire"), describing how one rubbed flint or sticks hard enough to spark a flame.

Pre-Joseon era Read →

#57 Folk Origin

보쌈

A dish of boiled pork wrapped in seasoned cabbage or radish kimchi.

It means "to wrap in a cloth (褓)" — and originally it named not a food but a custom of carrying a person off bundled in a wrapping cloth.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#58 Folk origin (popular lore)

깍두기

A kimchi made of cubed radish — and, by extension, a person or position that doesn't quite belong anywhere.

Named for radish chopped "kkakduk-kkakduk" into cubes, the word came to also describe an odd leftover scrap that never forms a perfect cube — someone who never quite fits in anywhere.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#59 Folk origin (popular lore)

천둥벌거숭이

A reckless, fearless person who charges about heedlessly, with no sense of danger.

Said to come from the red "beolgeosungi" (red dragonfly) that darts about unafraid even when thunder rolls.

Pre-Joseon era Read →

#60 Historical origin

삼수갑산

A place so harsh and remote it is hard to reach — or a plight so desperate you'd brave even such a place.

From Samsu (三水) and Gapsan (甲山) in Hamgyeong Province — the coldest backcountry and a favored place of exile during the Joseon Dynasty.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#61 Sino-Korean origin (popular lore)

사돈

The relationship between the parents of two families joined by marriage — or between the two in-law families themselves.

Said to combine "sa" (査, a tree stump) and "don" (頓, to bow one's head), evoking two elders bowing to each other across a stream as they offered cups of wine.

Goryeo Dynasty Read →

#62 Folk origins

트집

needlessly picking at trivial faults to complain or pick a fight

Originally teujip japgi, the craft of gently spreading and shaping a horsehair hat (gat) — the term later hardened into the sense of constantly digging up faults.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#63 Historical origins (folk theory)

미역국 먹다

to fail an exam or election, or to be pushed out of a position

Said to come from the forced disbanding (haesan, 解散) of the Korean Empire's army, slyly likened to the seaweed soup a mother eats after childbirth (haesan, 解産) — two words that sound exactly alike.

Korean Empire Read →

#64 Folk origins

바가지 긁다

to nag grindingly — typically a wife at her husband over household matters

From a shamanic rite during cholera outbreaks, when a gourd dipper was set on a tray and scraped harshly to drive off the disease spirit — that grating sound became the emblem of nagging.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#65 Native Korean words

주먹구구

rough, by-guess calculation or slapdash handling of a task

From jumeok guogu (九九), an old method of multiplying by clenching a fist and extending fingers — it came to mean inexact, ballpark reckoning.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#66 Native Korean words

부아

a feeling of anger or resentment

Originally a native Korean word for the lungs; because anger leaves you short of breath with a swelling chest, it came to mean "a resentful heart."

Unknown Read →

#67 Sino-Korean origins

시쳇말

the slang or buzzwords in fashion at a given time; the way people commonly speak these days

It comes not from "corpse" but from the Sino-Korean word siche (時體), meaning the customs and fashions of a particular era.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#68 Native Korean words

변죽

the rim or edge of a dish or object; usually in the phrase byeonjuk-eul ullida, "to ring the rim" — to talk around the point instead of touching the heart of the matter

It joins the Sino-Korean byeon (邊), meaning "edge," with the native Korean juk, meaning "tip" or "end," and originally pointed to the rim of a vessel.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#69 Folk origins

넋두리

a long, drawn-out lament in which one pours out grievances or self-pity

A shamanic term: it comes from the "words of the spirit," what a mudang (shaman) poured out on behalf of the dead in a gut ritual, voicing their grief and grievances.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#70 Folk origins

푸닥거리

a small shamanic rite in which a mudang lays out simple food offerings to drive off evil spirits, impurity, and malign forces

It comes from a shamanic rite meant to cure illness caused by evil spirits by "loosening" it — a healing gut that releases impurity.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#71 Historical origins

옹고집

a mulish, unreasonable stubbornness that insists on having its own way — or a person like that

From the title character of the classic tale Onggojip-jeon — a miserly, headstrong man whose surname was Ong and whose given name was Gojip ("stubbornness").

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#72 Loanword origins

깡통

a tin can; figuratively, something empty inside or a person who knows nothing

A loanword compound: the English "can," pronounced "kkang" by way of Japanese, joined with the Chinese character tong (筒, tube).

Modern era Read →

#73 Folk origins

어깃장

deliberately balking and going against others instead of cooperating

From the eogitjang, the diagonal brace once fastened across a plank door to keep it from warping — which came to mean deliberately going against the grain.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#74 Native Korean words

곤죽

mushy, sodden rice or ground; or a state so chaotic it is impossible to make sense of

The "gon" from golhda ("to spoil, to go soft inside") joined with the Chinese juk (粥, porridge) — originally a porridge gone mushy and spoiled.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#75 Native Korean words

안달복달

fretting and stewing impatiently, eating yourself up with anxious urgency

From andal, "the insides (an) heat up," reinforced by the rhyming emphatic element bokdal to stress the sense of impatience.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#76 Food

갈매기살

pork skirt meat — the cut attached to a pig's diaphragm

Nothing to do with the seagull (galmaegi). The name comes from "garomak-sal" (diaphragm meat), which slowly shifted in pronunciation into "galmaegi-sal."

Modern era Read →

#77 Idiomatic expression

꼬투리 잡다

to nitpick — to seize on someone's small flaw and make an issue of it

From "kkoturi," the pod that encloses beans and other legumes — the very part you grip to shell them, which gave rise to both "a starting clue" and "something to nitpick."

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#78 Idiomatic expression

흐지부지

fizzling out — ending vaguely without a clear conclusion

From the Sino-Korean phrase "hwijibiji" (諱之祕之), "to shun and conceal" — whose meaning blurred until the word hardened into "heujibuji."

Modern era Read →

#79 Clothing

행주치마

an apron — a small skirt worn over one's clothes for kitchen work

Not from the Battle of Haengju, but most likely from a wiping cloth or from the garment worn by a "haengja," the kitchen attendant at a Buddhist temple.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#80 Idiomatic expression

개판 오분전

utter chaos; a complete mess

The leading theory holds that the "gae" is not the dog (gae) but the Chinese character 開 ("to open") — from "gaeban" (開飯), the lifting of the rice-pot lid to begin serving food.

Modern era Read →

#81 Idiomatic expression

산통 깨다

to ruin something just as it was about to come together

From smashing the "santong" (算筒) — the canister in which a fortune-teller kept the divining rods — so that no fortune could be read.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#82 Idiomatic expressions

땡전 한 푼

flat broke — not even the smallest coin to your name

From the dangbaekjeon (當百錢), a high-denomination coin minted by the Regent Heungseon Daewongun to fund the rebuilding of Gyeongbok Palace; despised after wrecking the economy, its name soured into ttaengjeon, a byword for worthless money.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#83 Idiomatic expressions

빈축을 사다

to draw criticism or disapproval from others

From the old tale in which a plain woman mimicked the frowning brow (binchuk, 嚬蹙) of the famed beauty Xi Shi and was laughed at for it.

Ancient China Read →

#84 Idiomatic expressions

감쪽같다

so seamless that there is no trace of anything having been altered or doctored

One theory traces it to gamjeop-gatda, the trace-free spot where a persimmon branch is grafted onto a date-plum tree; another, to gobbling down a slice of dried persimmon so fast no trace is left.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#85 Idiomatic expressions

도긴개긴

much of a muchness — barely any difference between the two

From the game of yut: the distance to capture a piece with a "do" (dogin) and with a "gae" (gaegin) is hardly any different.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#86 Proverbs

꿩 대신 닭

making do with something similar when the exact thing you want is not available

From New Year's rice-cake soup, whose broth was traditionally made with pheasant — when pheasant was scarce, cooks turned to chicken instead.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#87 Idiomatic expressions

주리를 틀다

to press or torment someone mercilessly

From the Joseon-era torture called jurae (周牢), in which rods were thrust between a prisoner's legs and twisted apart.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#88 Food

젬병

being hopelessly bad at something, or a result that turns out terribly

A worn-down form of jeonbyeong (煎餠), a griddle cake that quickly sags and sticks into a shapeless mess once cooked.

Modern era Read →

#89 Idiomatic expressions

야코죽다

to lose one's spirit; to be cowed or disheartened

From yangko, a name for a Westerner's large nose, shortened to yako (slang for "pride/nose") — when that pride "dies," one is cowed.

Modern era Read →

#90 Idiomatic expressions

감투를 쓰다

to take on an official post, title, or position of authority

From the gamtu, a cap only officials could wear, which came to stand for the office itself.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#91 Idiomatic expressions

맞장구

to chime in with and go along with what someone else is saying

From the janggu drum two people played while facing each other in a folk percussion band — literally a "facing janggu."

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#92 Idiomatic expressions

골탕 먹다

to suffer a heavy loss all at once, or to be badly put out

A reversal of goltang, a savory soup of ox brain and spinal marrow, which got tangled up with the similar-sounding golda ("to be quietly harmed").

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#93 Idiomatic expressions

고주망태

the state of being so blind drunk that one can barely stay upright

From the net bag (mangtae) set atop the goju, a frame for straining wine — always sodden with drink, just like the drunkard it came to name.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#94 Idiomatic expressions

벽창호

a maddeningly stubborn person you simply cannot reason with

A worn-down form of byeokchang-u, the big, tough oxen raised in Byeokdong and Changseong of North Pyeongan Province.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#95 Idiomatic expressions

삼천포로 빠지다

for a story or task to veer off its intended course and wander somewhere unexpected

Most likely from a Jinju-bound train that split off at Gaeyang Station and carried a passenger off to Samcheonpo instead.

Modern era Read →

#96 Idiomatic expressions

눈독 들이다

to eye something covetously, keeping a greedy watch on it

From fixing on something a gaze charged with greed — the "venom (毒) of the eye," a stare steeped in desire.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#97 Food

총각김치

kimchi made from small, young radishes pickled whole with their greens

Named for the chonggak-mu radish, whose shape recalled the braided, dangling hairstyle of an unmarried youth (chonggak).

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#98 Idiomatic expressions

부아가 치밀다

for anger and indignation to surge up inside you

From bua, the native Korean word for the lungs, long seen as the seat of indignation — to have one's bua surge up.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#99 Idiomatic expressions

마수걸이

the first sale of the day, or the first earnings it brings

From masu, the day's first transaction, joined with georri — the act of opening the day's trade.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#100 Proverbs

어물전 망신은 꼴뚜기가 시킨다

an inferior member brings shame on the whole group

A proverb from the idea that the homeliest creature in a fish shop — the tiny squid (kkolttugi) — disgraces the entire stall.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#101 Native Korean words

북돋우다

to lift someone's spirits or courage

From a farming term: heaping up buk — the soil banked around a plant's roots — so that the plant stands firm.

Middle to Early Modern Korean Read →

#102 Emotional expressions

삭이다

to let anger or tension settle and subside

The causative of sakda, "to mellow with time" — as salted fish and kimchi mellow in the jar, so does anger.

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#103 Idiomatic expressions

어깨를 겯다

to link arms and act together toward a shared purpose

From the old verb gyeotda, "to weave strips of bamboo or bush clover crosswise into one another."

Joseon Dynasty Read →

#104 Native Korean words

오뚝이

a roly-poly toy that always rights itself — or a person like it

Formed from ottuk, "standing up small and prominent," plus the suffix -i.

Modern era Read →

#105 Proverbs

비 온 뒤에 땅이 굳어진다

after the rain, the ground hardens — hardship leaves one stronger

A proverb drawn from the sight of rain-soaked mud drying into ground firmer than before.

The agrarian age Read →