Our word for today is ‘God’. There are many ways to say this depending on the context and situation.
For most Koreans, referring to God as simply a being that is up the sky would be called 하느님. The name comes from the word 하늘 (ha-neul) which means sky or heaven. You will also often hear people cry out this word when they are in a dangerous situation or need help badly in their life.
Another variation of this word would be 하나님 which takes the word 하나, which means ‘one’, and attach the formal ‘님’ to it. People who use this word for God often want to emphasize that there is only one god to them. Christians in Korea will always use this term.
The next word for God would be ‘신’. This is a more casual term and would refer to a god-like the Greek or Roman gods. For goddess, you would use 여신. These terms could also be used to describe someone who is very attractive with a nice body.
Other terms related to God:
예수님/주님 (ye-su-nim/ju-nim) = Jesus
알라 (al-la) = Allah
부처/석가 (bu-cheo/seok-ga) = Buddha
빌다 (bil-da) = To pray
교회 (gyo-hweh) = Church
For the names of different religions in Korean, check out our infographic here.