Ask a Korean! Wiki: Language Similarities?

Dear Korean,

I know there's been an influx of English words to have been adopted by Koreans into their own language, like coffee, camera, computer, bus, okay, etc. But are there any purely Korean words which -- when spoken -- carry exactly same meaning in Korean as English? The one possibility I'm thinking of is "soot," meaning dirty or ashy. Doesn't that mean approximately the same thing in both languages?

Kenneth L.


Kenneth,

Finding "soot" is extremely clever, but the Korean is afraid that Korean soot and English soot do not mean exactly the same -- although they are close. In Korean, soot means "charcoal". In English, soot means "grime". Korean soot doesn't exactly carry the judgmental connotation that English soot carries.

The Korean can't think of any other example, but this is really intriguing. Readers, be creative. Any randomly similar words between Korean and English?

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