Korean food vocabulary: 60 words with romanization

60 Korean food words

Each word is written in Hangul with a Revised Romanization reading, South Korea's official system, the one on road signs. Readings follow pronunciation, so 맛있다 is masitda. Verbs and adjectives are in the dictionary form ending in -다. This is the food pack the Contos web app uses for flashcard review.

밥, 쌀 and the three meals

The list gives 쌀 (ssal) for rice. That is the raw grain you buy in a sack. Cooked rice is 밥 (bap), and 밥 also means a meal in general. Friends greet each other with 밥 먹었어? (bap meogeosseo?), "have you eaten?", much as English speakers say "how are you?"

• 아침achimmorning; breakfast
• 점심jeomsimmidday; lunch
• 저녁jeonyeokevening; dinner
• 밥bapcooked rice; a meal

The list gives 아침밥, 점심밥 and 저녁밥, the everyday names built on 밥, a meal. The formal names, the kind you see on a hotel sign, end in 식사 (siksa, meal): 아침 식사. In speech people often use the time of day on its own: 점심 먹었어요? (jeomsim meogeosseoyo?) means "have you had lunch?"

Which of these food words will English speakers recognise?

Twenty words in the list are modern loanwords, mostly from English, and spelt in Hangul by sound: 커피 (keopi), 주스 (juseu), 케이크 (keikeu), 아이스크림 (aiseukeurim). Korean has no f sound, so it becomes ㅍ (p): coffee is keopi and fork is 포크 (pokeu). A consonant that ends an English word often gets a short 으 (eu) after it, which is why juice is juseu.

빵 (ppang), bread, is an older loan. It goes back to Portuguese pão, and reached Korean by way of Japanese.

The native words repay more care. 고기 (gogi) is meat, and kinds of meat are built on it: 닭고기 (dakgogi) is chicken, 소고기 (sogogi) beef and 돼지고기 (dwaejigogi) pork. 생선 (saengseon) is fish as food; a live fish swimming in the water is 물고기 (mulgogi).

How do you order food in Korean?

Put 주세요 (juseyo), "please give me", after almost any word in the list. To ask for more than one, Korean adds a native number and a counter word: 잔 (jan) for cups and glasses, 병 (byeong) for bottles, 개 (gae) for most other things.

Polite forms of the food verbs

The list gives verbs in the dictionary form. In conversation, use the polite -아요/-어요 form, which works for I, you, he and she alike.

계산하다 (gyesanhada) in the list is to pay in the sense of settling up, the word you use at a restaurant. You will also hear 내다 (naeda), to pay: 제가 낼게요 (jega naelgeyo), "I'll pay". 지불하다 (jibulhada) is the formal word, used on signs and in writing. The bill itself, 계산서, is a word you will read more than say. More in how to ask for the bill in Korean.