Friday, April 22, 2011

Onomatopoeic Korean Words

Animals, insects and things create different sounds in Korea. Animals, insects, etc are also Koreans so don't be surprised if the dog doesn't say "woof woof" or "arf, arf" or "bowwow" but says "meong meong" or "kang-kang" instead.

Here are some of the onomatopoeic Korean words.

kko-kki-o = cock-a doodle-doo

wing wing = buzz of a bee

kung! = thud, thump

kwang! = a door slam

jjaek-kkak, jaekh-kkak = tick-tock of a clock

jjaek jjaek = tweet tweet, the chirp of a bird

ppi-yak ppi-yak = peep peep of a chick

bu-geul bu-geul = the bubbling of boiling water

wak-ja-ji-keol, or wa-geul wa-geul, or si-kkeul-beok-jeok = hubbub

heol-le beol-tteok = hurly-burly of a hurrying, confused person

kang-kang, meong-meong = woof or bowwow of a dog

kking kking = whine of a dog

chik-chik pok-pok = choo choo, puff of a steam locomotive

ppang-ppang = honk honk of a car

kul kul = snoring

sae-geun, sae-geun = breathing of a sleeping baby

kkul kkul = oink oink of a pig

hu du du = pitter-patter of rain

dal-geu-rak, dal-geu-rak = clackety-clack of typewriter keys

eong eong = boo-hoo of a weeping man

nyam nyam = munch crunch

bu-reung bu-reung = vroom of a car

pi yung = zing, or whiz of an arrow or bullet

ping = twang of a bow

tu-deol, tudeol = mutter, mumble of a person

dwing-gul dwing-gul = a rolling object, or a lazy man shifting his body on the floor

cheom beong = splash of something falling into water

du-geun du-geun = the sound and feeling of a throbbing heart

1 comment:

Seoulgrub said...

I find it funny how different countries have different onomatopoeia's for the same sound. Like "bark-bark" for a dog is "mung-mung" in Korean. Good stuff!