Tag: hanja
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Hanja Time – Why Korea is called Korea
The name “Korea” comes from a building and some deer antlers. It’s true, and in this article we are going to discover why. Koreans call their country ‘Han Gook’ (한국 – 韓國) which means “Nation of Han people”, so why do we call it Korea? Where does this word “Korea” come from anyways? …
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Hanja Time – The path to enlightenment
What do Taekwondo, Taoism, freeways, enlightenment, and the 8 provinces of Korea all have in common? They all contain a character this character (which we say as 도 in Korean): It means ‘way’ or ‘path’, both in the literal sense, and in the metaphysical sense. You may have heard of Taoism- Tao (or…
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Hanja Time – Have a Ball
The Chinese character 球 (구 – “Gu”) means ‘ball’ or ‘sphere’. Many Korean names for sports and games have this character in them. 야구 “Yagu” (野球) – Baseball The first sound, 야 “Ya” means countryside, or field. When 구 “Gu” is added it becomes “Field-ball”, or baseball. 탁구 “Tak-gu” (卓球) – Ping pong/ Table…
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Hanja Time – Stuck In The Middle
The Hanja character for ‘middle’ (중) is wonderfully simple – it is merely a box with a line drawn right down the middle: It is easy to see how a box with a line down the middle could mean ‘middle’, but it wasn’t always this way. In ancient China it looked like this: Some people…
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Hanja Time with Gary
A Simple Introduction to Hanja By Gary Routh Do you know what the Shinsegae department store and the Shilla Dynasty have in common? What about Seoraksan Mountain and the Korean word for “sugar”? What connection is there between high schools and the Koryeo dynasty? The answer is in the Hanja. Many Korean words are…
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