Korean Sounds (Onomatopoeia) (한국어 의성어)

Whether you want to understand basic words in K-pop or K-dramas, impress your Korean friends, or simply deepen your connection to the Korean culture, the Korean Language Starter Pack ensures that you quickly learn and retain the most commonly used Korean words and phrases today. Click here to learn more.

So we were out eating lunch on Saturday before we went to see “Grand Budapest Hotel”, and Hyo gave me the idea for this. First of all, I didn’t even know the correct term for these sounds and the word “onomatopoeia” is just a ridiculous word. You learn something new every day.

As it turns out, Korean has a ton of these floating around in daily speech and I only knew a few of them before researching to make this graphic. It’s always interesting to see how different languages perceive sounds. Other English speakers like myself for the life of us can’t figure out how “멍멍” = dog barking, but there are other sounds like a duck quacking or a doorbell that sound the same.

Once again, if I forgot any, just remember it’s just not that easy to fit them all into one graphic in a simple easy to read format.

People

a. 음 = um..

b. 아야! = ouch!

c. 앗! = oops!

d. 에치! = achoo!

e. 쪽 = kiss

f. 쉿! = shhh!

g. 두근두근 = throbbing heart

h. 냠냠 = chewing food

i. 엉엉 = crying

j. 드르렁 = snoring

k. 짝짝짝 = clapping

l. 콜록콜록 = coughing

Animals

a. 멍멍 = dog (barking)

b. 꿀꿀 = pig

c. 야옹 = cat

d. 맴맴 = cicada

e. 음메 = cow/sheep

f. 꽥꽥 = duck

g. 개골개골 = frog

h. 찍찍 = mouse

i. 삐약삐약 = baby chicks

j. 구구 = pigeon

k. 꼬끼오 = rooster

l. 부엉엉부엉 = owl

Others

a. 땡땡땡 = clang clang

b. 끌끌 = sleeping

c. 추록추록 = falling rain

d. 빤짝빤짝 = shine/sparkle

e. 끽 = creak

f. 싱 = zoom

g. 슈 = whoosh

h. 쾅 = crashing

i. 띵동 = door bell

j. 똑똑똑 = knock

k. 빵빵 = car horn

l. 따끈따끈 = warm

Whether you want to understand basic words in K-pop or K-dramas, impress your Korean friends, or simply deepen your connection to the Korean culture, the Korean Language Starter Pack ensures that you quickly learn and retain the most commonly used Korean words and phrases today. Click here to learn more.