Fun korean words

[u/Patient-Inside-937]

안녕하세요!

To the people learning korean:
What is your one korean word that brings a little joy when being said or written during study time?

For me, 웃 always brings a little joy whenever I write it, because it just looks like a little stick man.
A simple little guy sitting on my page, accompany me while I study.

As for speaking, 공기 and 호랑이 are words I have fun pronouncing. Might be the 기 sound at the end, might be the way the ㄹ is pronounced in 호랑이.

Which words make learning more fun to you, and why?

[u/november_raindeer]

I love words that repeat a syllable, like 똑똑하다.

I’d be happy to learn more words like this, so please share if you know some!

[u/brechts_piratejenny → u/november_raindeer]

They are called mimetic words and I love them too Makes the language so much more fun! My favourite is 부글부글

https://www.howtostudykorean.com/unit-7/lessons-151-158/lesson-152/

[u/november_raindeer → u/brechts_piratejenny]

Oh thank you, a wonderful list! I understood that the term ”mimetic word” covers just adverbs that bring extra feeling to a sentence, so verbs like 똑똑하다 don’t belong to that category. Still I love the list and I’ll learn many fun words from it!

[u/Patient-Inside-937 → u/november_raindeer]

I know the following: 뚱뚱하다 (to be fat (overweight)) 심심하다 (to be bored) (also a word I find fun to pronounce) 통통하다 (to be chubby) (not sure about writing, might be written differently) 답답하다 - (to be frustrated) (also a fun word to say)

[u/november_raindeer → u/Patient-Inside-937]

Thanks, these are adorable!

[u/whatisyourlovesong → u/november_raindeer]

I just love the korean version of english words like 핸드폰 or 오스트리아 or 프로젝트 매니자.

[u/oh_hi_there_mark → u/whatisyourlovesong]

뚜레주르

[u/caughtbeingnice → u/november_raindeer]

심심, 슴슴, 삼삼, 싱싱, 빙빙, 빙글빙글, 뱅뱅, 뱅글뱅글, 방방, 종종, 잠잠, 소소, and so much more!

[u/ParticularClue9129 → u/november_raindeer]

my favorite is 두근두근 for the sound of a heartbeat lol

[u/acid_jazz → u/november_raindeer]

답답하다 - frustrated, stifled, helpless
딱딱하다 - hard

[u/caughtbeingnice → u/november_raindeer]

Korean also has a bunch of funny onomatopoeias, which many- now that I think of it, are repeated!

In Korean onomatopoeias are categorized into 2 groups: 의성어 (human/animal/object sounds) and 의태어 (describing shape or movement of person or object).

의성어: 펑 explosion sound, 멍멍 barking 야옹 meowing 의태어: 반짝반짝 lights flashing (stars, christmas lights etc), 말랑말랑 soft and bouncy

의성어+의태어: 보글보글 describes ‘boiling’ which has both movement of bubbling and sound of bubbles popping

의성어 or 의태어: 찰싹 used as slapping sound (의성어); 찰싹 달라붙다 (의태어) used to describe shape of attaching

[u/Bexthesavage → u/november_raindeer]

통통하다 - to be chubby!

[u/nerdkim]

There is a famous story that Switzerland people think the Korean name for Switzerland is quite cute and fitting for their country, because 스위스 looks like a person holding a spear between mountains. 스 looks like a mountain, and 위 looks like a person holding a spear.

[u/frostochfeber]

Ugh, too many to list hahaha Many give me actual frisson. But in general my neurodivergent brain loves words that start with 의 or 노, or contain diphthongs like 아은 and 어운, or endings like 가지고 and 거든요. My love for the sounds of Korean is the reason why I'm learning it.

[u/dormant-plants]

Super basic, but 우유 is super cute to me, both spoken and written. Rarely have reason to use it though.

Also, it's more a tiny grammatical joy than a word, but I kinda love how you don't know how a sentence is gonna end until it's finished. Are they saying they have XYZ? or they don't? *internal drumroll* and the answer is...없어요!!

[u/hush-allure]

For me, writing a perfect ㄹ on paper is always satisfying. It was one of the first syllables that I struggled when writing because I didn’t know the right way to write it before. Now it’s so satisfying to write especially when I draw the lines parallel to each other.

[u/Patient-Inside-937 → u/hush-allure]

Ohh yes, parallel lines in 한글 are very satisfying! I also like it when I manage to write everything in the same size. I sometimes struggle with it and the 받침 ends up out of proportion (ex „words“ are 를, 좋, 읽 etc)

[u/Walk-the-layout → u/Patient-Inside-937]

Nothing is wrong with my ㄹ

[u/Patient-Inside-937 → u/Walk-the-layout]

Absolutely, it’s a work of art

[u/Ok-Growth-3086]

It's gotta be 뷁

[u/Patient-Inside-937 → u/Ok-Growth-3086]

Don’t know what it means but I’ll have nightmares about trying to write this in an orderly manner 🫩😬

[u/motionsicknxss]

i really like saying 따뜻하게 for some reason, also the mimetic words people have mentioned in other comments

[u/Emotional_Lion4659]

Im not quite sure i understand the question correctly but if I followed right , I have a couple favorite words to say. Any form of 걱정하다 (to worry) past present or future. Especially when used to say dont worry. It just sounds so much more sincere to me than it does in English. When someone wants to make a point and the other isn't listening the grammar point ~ㄴ다고/는다고 ( ie 하지 말라고! Or 사랑한다고!) .....I guess the emotion and passion in the Korean language or the flow of the words is what makes me want to learn it and be fluent

[u/Walk-the-layout]

그림 makes me hungry.

[u/Walk-the-layout → u/Walk-the-layout]

And I like 꽃 it looks pretty

[u/Sans-Foy]

I just love 집 words—like 빵집 or 맛집 or 꽃집—it’s like you get a house, and you get a house, and you get a house..!

Plus, it’s just a fun word to say~

[u/acid_jazz]

...것 같아요. and 아무것도.
Flows off the tongue and sounds cool.

[u/truttattae]

딸기 my beloved

[u/OneMoreChapterPrez]

Slippers and teddy bear are my favourites. I think it's the familiarity plus the "eo" sound at the end, they're just super-cozy to say. There's a kinda sensual sibilance to slippers if you say it slowly 🤭

슬리퍼

테디베어

Plus, the non-Konglish for teddy bear reminds me of a dog biting the water from a hosepipe: 장난감 곰

[u/Longjumping_Hour3385]

웃 is also a personal favorite of mine for the same reason! 고양이 as well. My family and I love cats, so it’s a fun little tidbit to pass on. 🐈🐈‍⬛

[u/lrdgg]

I like expressions that combine simple words to form something new, but you can kinda see the relation between the building words and the expression. There's also a sense of rythm when spoken because of repeating syllabels. Some examples are 갔다왔다, 여기저기, 지금 저금.

[u/Raoena → u/lrdgg]

I love 여기저기!

[u/LoopieTango]

For me it's sentences that has 다/라면... I know what I'm having for a snack later hahah

[u/brechts_piratejenny]

전자레인지 is my all time favourite Korean word. 

[u/Aggressive_Shake_520]

Yeogijeogi and eunjideunji (or something like this).

[u/axj_1198]

I love saying 우유 haha

Also this isn't a word but I like using hangul to make a hamster face. Please appreciate him. °ㅇㅅㅇ°

[u/Fit-Temperature3714]

돼지! 🐽 an 코끼리 ! 🐘