Tag: hanja time
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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 Routh
Happy New Year and more lucky Hanjas Hidden in the Korean phrase for “Happy New Year”, 새해 복 많이 받으세요 (sae-hae book mahn-ee bah-deu-se-yo) is “Happy New Year” in Korean. 새 means “new” and 해 means “year”, and 많이 받으세요 means “receive a lot of (something)”. Those are all ‘native’ Korean. The 복 part is…
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