150 Core Korean Nouns Every Learner Should Know

Need to start filling up your Korean vocabulary bank? This list contains 150 must-know nouns from the language that’ll serve as a great foundation for the rest of your studies.

While 150 might sound like a lot, you’ll probably notice patterns between words that can make memorization easier. Plus, there are plenty of words that are just Korean transliterations of English words.

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People

There are over 50 million people living in Korea today. A big population for a relatively small country, and all the more reason you should learn the nouns associated with people.

Knowing these nouns will get you by in a lot of social situations that require identification.

Family

Family is a big deal in Korean culture. The close bonds between family members are seen as hallmarks of societal success.

There are a lot of special names and titles for Korean family members, and I’ll be the first to admit that memorizing all of them can be difficult.

The titles can differ depending on which side of the family a person comes from, and whether or not they’re older or younger than you or someone else.

That said, knowing at least these nouns will definitely get you some brownie points with the fam!

Professions

These are helpful nouns to know if you’re interested in learning about (or joining) the Korean workforce.

Korea is a popular hub for international employees, so it’s definitely an option to consider if you’re looking to work abroad.

Transportation

Trains, buses, cars—oh my!

Cars may remain the most common mode of vehicle-based travel in Korea, but the expansive public transportation system is certainly a thing to behold.

In fact, if you ever travel to Korea, I highly recommend you just bask in the convenience, speed and cleanliness of the available public transport modes.

Places

Sure, you can simply call most things on this list a “building,” but knowing just that noun won’t get you far in navigating a Korean town or city. 

So make sure you know these nouns for common places you might come across!

Media and Technology

Whether it’s the newest K-pop music video or the next household cleaning robot, Korea is very big on trends in both media and technology.

And these trends are quick to get picked up. With a super-fast internet connection and high digital immersion among the population, it’s no wonder that communications can reach the masses so easily.

You can also use technology to help you study Korean! The language learning platform FluentU, for instance, helps you learn Korean vocabulary, grammar and cultural nuances in context.

And those are all good reasons to learn some of the vocabulary related to technology and media.

Food

Korean cuisine is continuing to rise in popularity, what with its reputation for being healthy, unique and just plain delicious.

If you haven’t tried any Korean food yet, you’re missing out on some fantastic experiences your taste buds will cherish. 

And whether you’re going to a Korean restaurant or the local Korean supermarket, you’re going to have to know some basic food vocab to get by.

Body

It isn’t just a matter of pointing out your head, shoulders, knees and toes.

If you’re in Korea, knowing how to say the body parts is vital for many situations, primarily those that are medical in nature. You wouldn’t want the doctor looking into your ears when you have a broken arm!

Emotions

In Korean and any other language, it’s crucial to know how to communicate your thoughts and feelings.

So you should definitely learn the words for some of those everyday sentiments you have.

This is a good first taste of the Korean language, and there’s so much more to look forward to. Asking for English for every word gets tiring quickly, so now you won’t have to!

Sure, it’s a pretty big list that’ll keep you busy, but you’ll get all these words down in time. Soon enough, you’ll be moving on to learn hundreds more and move into the thousands!

To get you motivated, here’s one more word that’s used wish people good luck: 화이팅 (hwa-ii-ting), which means “fight on!”

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

And One More Thing...

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FluentU really takes the grunt work out of learning languages, leaving you with nothing but engaging, effective and efficient learning. It's already hand-picked the best videos for you (which are organized by level and topic), so all you have to do is simply choose any video that strikes your fancy to get started.

Each word in the interactive captions comes with a definition, audio, image, example sentences and more.

Access a complete interactive transcript of every video under the Dialogue tab, and easily review words and phrases from the video under Vocab.

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Review sessions use video context to help embed the words in your memory.

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