@dailykoreanfacts.bsky.social - daily korean facts

18 Feb 2026 12:53 +0000

The Mandarin words for one and two are "yī" (一) and "èr" (二). The (Sino-)Korean words for them are "il" (일) and "i" (이). Did they somehow switch places? No! It's just a historical coincidence, as you'll see in this helpful graphic (Sino-Japanese included too):

24 Feb 2025 05:27 +0000

깨다 "to wake" and 깨다 "to break" are homophones in Korean. In Middle Korean, they were distinct. It is only a coincidence that they sound the same now.

24 Feb 2025 05:27 +0000

깨다 "to wake" and 깨다 "to break" are homophones in Korean. In Middle Korean, they were distinct. It is only a coincidence that they sound the same now.

02 Dec 2024 04:36 +0000

Let me tell you a fact so disturbing that it will keep you up at night. The Korean words 자다 (ja-) "to sleep" and 잠 (jam) "sleep (noun)" surely come from the same root, right? Well.. They each come from Middle Korean 자다 (ca-) "to sleep" and ᄌᆞᆷ (com) "sleep (n.)". They had different vowels! (1/?)

04 Oct 2024 06:35 +0000

Middle Korean animal names with sound!

01 Oct 2024 16:15 +0000

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #55,481!

21 Sep 2023 19:57 +0000

번개 "lightning", 반딧불 "firefly", 반드시 "certainly", 뻔하다 "obvious", etc might all be traced back to one root. #langsky

18 Sep 2023 06:24 +0000

A Wanderwort (lit. "wander-word") is a word that has spread as a loanword among numerous languages and cultures. #langsky

21 Aug 2023 06:02 +0000

Why does Korean have two distinct tense paradigms for main clauses and relative clauses? How did Korean develop a new past & future tense and replace the old ones? Look out for the interesting parallels with the Romance languages.

20 Jul 2023 07:00 +0000

In Middle Korean, "nostril" was called "곳구무/곳구ᇚ". If it had followed regular sound changes till the present day, it would have been something like "*고꾸무". Instead, we have "콧구멍". This is due to a process called "Recomposition".

15 Jul 2023 04:33 +0000

The etymology of "기와" (roof tile) is particularly interesting. It comes from an analogy: "thatched roof, but with ceramic instead of thatch"! It is a word with indigenous Korean roots, but likely contaminated by Sino-Korean 와(瓦) "roof tile" somewhere along the way.

12 Jul 2023 06:15 +0000

"우마양저염역병치료방(牛馬羊猪染疫病治療方)" ('How to cure infectious diseases in cows, horses, sheep, and pigs') is a veterinary book from 1541. Each passage is written three times: in Classical Chinese, Idu, and Hangul, showing the triglossia in Korean society at the time.

05 Jul 2023 02:39 +0000

In Korea, the symbol "@" is colloquially called '골뱅이' (sea snail). Aside from its usual usages on the internet, it is also sometimes used as an abbreviation for '아파트' (apartment), as shown in the subway signage in the second image.

04 Jul 2023 06:24 +0000

Choe Sejin(최세진)'s description and comparison of 16th century Mandarin tones with Korean tones, from the book "飜譯老乞大朴通事凡例" (1517).

03 Jul 2023 05:31 +0000

Learn to Read Middle Korean in 15 Minutes!

31 May 2023 07:10 +0000

How are 위 "up", 지붕 "roof", 집 "house", and 웃풍 "wind from outside" related?

19 May 2023 12:30 +0000

The relationships between 끼 "meal", 께 "at (time)", 함께 "together", 한테 "to (someone)", and 데 "place".

17 May 2023 13:23 +0000

Mixing up 팔 "arm" and 발 "foot"? I got you covered.

06 May 2023 09:04 +0000

Dialect map of "가위" (scissors). "가위" appears as "ᄀᆞᇫ애 (kʌz.ay)" in Middle Korean. It is equivalent to MK "ᄀᆞᇫ- (kʌz)" (to clip) + "-개 (kay)" (tool for ...). Image from <한국언어지도>(2008) https://terms.naver.com/list.naver?cid=41827&categoryId=41827&so=st4.asc

04 May 2023 12:43 +0000

Sanskrit syllable "stvāṃ" in Siddham (𑖭𑖿𑖝𑖿𑖪𑖯𑖽), Han (薩怛錽(三合)), and Hangul (ᄯᆞ〮밤〯).

03 May 2023 07:58 +0000

Dialect map for '옥수수 / 강냉이' (corn, maize). Corn originally comes from the Americas, and it entered Korea though China by trade in the 16th century. Image from <한국언어지도>(2008) https://twitter.com/dailykoreanfact/status/1549196790045491200

03 May 2023 02:51 +0000

Hello Bluesky!