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:''This article is about the set of Korean words that had its roots in the Chinese language. For the Korean use of Chinese characters, please see Hanja.
'Sino-Korean' or ''Hanja-eo'' refers to the set of words in the Korean language vocabulary that originated from or were influenced by the Chinese language. The Sino-Korean lexicon consists of both words coined in the Korean language using Chinese characters and words that were borrowed directly from the Chinese language.
Sino-Korean words are one of the three main types of vocabulary in Korean. The other two are native Korean words and foreign words imported from other languages, mostly from EnglishSohn, Ho-Min. ''The Korean Language (Section 1.5.3 "Korean vocabulary", p.12-13)'', Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN 0521369436.
Although Sino-Korean words today make up about 60% of the Korean vocabulary, many Sino-Korean words have been replaced in North Korea with "pure" Korean words. However, there are still a large number of such words in widespread usage in the North.

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Sino-Korean vocabulary

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Sino-Korean vocabulary

Much like Japanese, a great deal of Sino-Korean vocabulary was directly borrowed from Chinese. However, a small number of Sino-Korean words were coined by the Koreans themselves. Furthermore, many academic and scientific terms were borrowed from Japanese. The Japanese translated numerous Western words (mainly English and German) into Sino-Japanese terms by coining or reusing words. Under the Japanese annexation, this vocabulary was borrowed into Korean by systematically reading the characters with Korean pronunciations.
Although the meaning of most ''hanja-e'' is the same as that of their Chinese cognates, there are cases where the Korean meaning is different from the Chinese. This is due to various causes, including divergence of Korean meanings from Chinese, Korean coinage of new words, or borrowing from Japanese. The table below contains some words that are different between Chinese and Korean, although speakers of either language might be able to guess at the meanings from the written form:

English	Korean (in Hanja)	Chinese	Korean (in Hangul)
letter	便紙, 片紙	信/信函/書箋/信箋/信件/便條/便信	편지 (pyeonji)
tissue	休紙	草紙/棉紙/手紙/紙巾/衛生紙	휴지 (hyuji)
gift	膳物	禮物/贈品	선물 (seonmul)
tab	外上	賬單/小報/標簽	외상 (oesang)
dining table	食卓	餐桌/飯桌	식탁 (siktak)
cheque	手票	支票	수표 (supyo)
name card, business card	名啣	名片	명함 (myeongham)
maid	食母	女傭/女僕	식모 (sigmo)
prohibit, cancel	休止	取締/阻止/禁止/取消	휴지 (hyuji)
study	工夫	學習	공부 (gongbu)
extremely	大端	非常/十分/忒	대단 (daedan)
airport	空港	機場/空港/航空港	공항 (gonghang)
airplane	飛行機	飛機	비행기 (bihaenggi)
president	大統領	總統	대통령 (daetongnyeong)
prisoner	囚人	囚犯/囚徒	수인 (suin)
side room	舍廊, 斜廊	側房/側廳/旁廳/側廊	사랑 (sarang)

Sometimes the Chinese and Korean words are composed of the same characters, but in reversed order.

English	Korean (in Hanja)	Chinese	Korean (in Hangul)
compass	羅針盤	羅盤針/羅盤/羅盤儀/指南針/司南	나침반 (nachimban)

Some Sino-Korean words derive from Japanese Kunyomi words, i.e., native Japanese words written in Chinese characters. When borrowed into Korean, the characters are given Sino-Korean pronunciations. (Note that in Japanese, these words are not considered to belong to the Sino-Japanese part of the vocabulary as they are native Japanese words.)

English	Japanese	Korean (in Hanja)	Korean (in Hangul)	Chinese term
assemble	組み立て	組立	조립	組合
	ku.mi.ta.te	jo.rip		zhǔ hé
building	建物	建物	건물	建築物/樓宇
	tate.mono	geon.mul		jiàn zhù wù/lóu yǔ
estimate	見積もり	見積	견적	估計
	mi.tsu.mo.ri	gyeon.jeok		gū jì
share of stock	株式	株式	주식	股份
	kabu.shiki	ju.sik		gǔ fèn
match	試合	試合	시합	比賽
	shi.ai	si.hap		bǐ sài
procedure	手続き	手續	수속	程序 / 手續
	te.tsuzu.ki	su.sok		chéng xù / shǒu xǜ

See also

★ List of Korea-related topics

★ Thousand Character Classic

★ Hanja

★ Korean with mixed script of Hangul and Hanja

References