Here is another basic animal word for you today.
Sticking with the farm animals once again this week (last week we told you how to say chicken in the Korean language) and talking about the word for pig.
If you’ve been in Korea for any period of time, you would know how popular pork dishes are here (sorry vegans and vegetarians!).
You probably can’t go more than a few blocks without seeing a restaurant that serves pork.
So as it says above, the word for pig in Korean is 돼지. You can use this word when talking about the actual animal.
If you want to talk about pork, then you would simply take 돼지 and add the word for meat, 고기 (go-gi). Then you get 돼지고기.
Most dishes that contain pork use other words other than 돼지 though. Let’s take a look at some examples of popular dishes that have pork as the main focus.
보쌈 = Pork wrapped with leafy veggies and the popular sauce, 쌈장.
삼겹살 = One of the most well known Korean dishes. It unseasoned pork belly that is grilled and then wrapped in lettuce. This is also usually dipped in 쌈장
뽈살 = These are pork cheeks that are grilled. They are usually marinated in a special sauce beforehand. This cut of meat is very chewy.
갈비 = Another popular staple of Korean food culture. This is what most people refer to when they talk about Korean BBQ. The meat is grilled over a hot flame or charcoal grill and is served with many other side dishes.
곱창 = The intestines of a pig that are grilled and served with lots of side dishes and soups.
흑돼지 = Although this can be found in most parts of Korea, it is a specialty of Jeju Island. The name literally means black pig, and it is similar to 삼겹살. The only difference is that the meat is from a black pig rather than the typical pig you see most often.
So there you have it. Another fun fact: In Korea, dreaming of a pig means that lots of money is coming your way soon.