Hidden Meanings of Korean Colors | Korean FAQ

Just like in English, Korean has many expressions that relate to colors. For example, in Korean you can have a “black heart,” make a “red lie,” or carry “blue dreams.”
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Music by Kevin MacLeod: "Beachfront Celebration," “MJS Strings,” and “Brightly Fancy.” (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

[@justynak.6686]

Thats very useful, thanks Billy! Three more color-related idioms that come to my mind: 얼굴을 붉히다 - to get angry or to blush from embarrassment 얼굴이 까맣게 타다 - to get a tan 빨갛게 익다 - to get a sunburn

[@leafortin7881]

That’s funny because in French too when we wanna say “to stay up all night" we say "passer une nuit blanche" which means in English "to have a white night"

[@stavshimoni2430]

We say it in Hebrew as well "laila lavan" (white night= staying up all night)

[@UkOutreach]

It’s extremely interesting to read of these similarities. Unlike some words that have a coincidental similarities in different languages, this is too specific and so one can only conclude that there has been a crossover at some point.

[@Neky_Hina]

@@UkOutreach Neurolinguists have interest in that kind of areas. Such phenomena may tell us how we human beings have a common mindset. :)

[@insertnamehere4833]

In Turkish, it means "sabahlamak" which translates to "to make morning"

[@Ataegina1]

This is incredible since it looks like there is an idiom which is used worldwide. In Spanish when you can't sleep all night you say 'pasar la noche en blanco,' literally meaning 'to spend the night in white." You can also find this expression in Polish where "biała noc" literally means "white night."

[@Neky_Hina]

두 눈 시퍼렇게 뜨고 보다 (to look at with having eyes open very blue): to look at directly and surely something, especially to look at someone's bad doings. 시퍼런 칼날 (deep-blue blade): very sharp blade

[@VoVina111]

Wow this was a very interesting and original video. I've never seen someone touch on that. Thank you!

[@doublemoon7720]

Billy please do a part 3 of celebrities speaking Korean and include the japanese girl Sana from the girlgroup TWICE. She has an amazing fluid speaking pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary!!

[@HmLys]

I love this session sm!!! Thank you for teaching us the more unspoken side of languages. Such things are almost the key in talking very natural and even souns like a native. More of these please!

[@sue4341]

안양 하세요. Billy. I've a comment to say about the color blue. Not sure if it's a fitting analogy. To me 시퍼렇게 살다 also means to live an authentic life to the fullest. That you are being true to yourself. Someone who has depth of character.

[@annablue431]

Hi! I bought your book (and the workbook of course) a few days ago and they arrived today! I already love them, thanks. 💕

[@GoBillyKorean]

Glad you like them! Good luck in your studies~!

[@nataliameylunas117]

This is so useful! Thank you!

[@anna-xg9ru]

Oh wow, I've never come across these! Thanks for making this awesome resource!

[@dextrin777]

와 저 한국인인데 설명하시는 거 감탄감탄....국어시간에 국어 배우는 느낌이네용! ㅎㅎ 문화를 정확히 아시면서 설명하시는 듯😊👍

[@gurudev4912]

I like your content a lot. Thankyou for doing all this for us. I really appreciate your work.😁🙏🙂thanks a lot.

[@selohcin]

Excellent explanation! Thanks Billy. Also: I'm so glad this video is under 10 minutes long ㅎㅎ

[@laviedevantsoi2322]

If you want '떡잎이 노랗다' to sound more 'satirical', say '싹수가 노랗다'.

[@Luisam_루이사]

Why does it sound more satirical? 떡잎과 싹수는 어떻게 달라요? 🤔

[@niralib8551]

Purple = bora = love I Purple you = I love you = Borahae BTS World

[@GoBillyKorean]

It's true for BTS, but keep in mind that "purple" has no meaning of "love" outside of BTS fandom, since that was made up by V ;-)

[@ftezzey]

I think my mind is blown out because there's more than a word for the same color 😂😂

[@hellobeatles613]

thank you so much for this! Learned so much!! Always looking forward to your content much love

[@stavshimoni2430]

Thank you Billy 🙏🏻

[@CT-jp2ep]

Whoops, I was looking for Come!WilliamSpanish. But this is good too.

[@S.i.n.c.l.a.i.r]

누렇게 뜨다 = 아파보인다? 어디안좋아보인다. 라는 의미이긴 하지만 여성분(여자)한테 쓰거나 친하지않은 사람, 연장자에게 쓰면 예의없는 표현이 될 수 있습니다! ^^ 이런 영상재밌네요. (영어 듣기는 되는데 쓰기가 잘 안돼서 한국어로 댓글써요. 죄송해요 ㅠㅠ)

[@hawaamusa]

This helps a lot 감사합니다

[@beersbrainfood]

거꾸로 왜이렇게 잘써여,,,, 신기방기

[@GoBillyKorean]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJ7JYWZ-ndF4bKc

[@Joayu20]

My favourite colors blue and purple🙂💜💎💙

[@Joayu20]

Thanks alot💙💜

[@ToonMageChannel]

What does 빨갛게 물들이다 mean? Is it an idiomatic expression as well? I saw it in the lyrics and it goes like this, "내가 그 누구보다도 빛나게 빨갛게 물들일게"

[@i2ikorean]

물들이다 = dye 빨갛게 물들이다 = dye something in red color as a native speaker when I hear 물들이다, it reminds me of liquid (since 물=water), also "gradual" change in color ^ ^

[@ToonMageChannel]

@@i2ikorean Thank you 😄. Is there a deeper meaning for it or is it just dying something with the red color?

[@i2ikorean]

@@ToonMageChannel It could be deeper, of course. Without knowing the context I cannot say for sure. 빨간색 can be related to "pain", "passion", "hurt", "damage",.... in literacy.

[@ToonMageChannel]

@@i2ikorean Thank you so much ^^

[@kims.inkss.]

Billy!! I just bought your Korean made simple book and ITS AMAZING! I just started learning but I always end up watching your lessons even tho im not watching it in order I WILL GET THERE LOL

[@njitram2000]

Black money in Dutch is income on which you did not pay any taxes.

[@NorskNorskasonn]

Same in Norwegian

[@Fluglecheese]

Does 뜨다 really mean to appear? When else can it mean this? Really liked this video.

[@GoBillyKorean]

There's another common verb 뜨다 used with eyes and other things and means "open." For example, 눈을 뜨다.

[@phyllo2694]

Came here after watching BTS Yet to Come and was wondering why they were all dressed in shades of blue. That’s for the information!

[@cherylschaeffer7832]

Very interesting. Are these expressions very common? Could one expect to hear them if they were traveling in Korea?

[@GoBillyKorean]

In a conversation with a native speaker, yes. But probably not as a tourist.

[@nashminpark5797]

pleaseeee let me know if there is a meaning in pink

[@ameng5]

So is 새바랗게 젊다 like the equivalent to a "sweet summer child"?

[@doublev4409]

It's 새파랗게 not 새바랗게 ^^

[@ameng5]

@@doublev4409 oopsies.. thank you!

[@iyamorales7216]

Hi so I'm learning korean and I don't know what is the next step. I knew how to write and read 한글 , memorized some vocabs and learn the basic sentence structure. Please tell me what is the next step I need to do. I don't know what was the next step. I hope you notice this.

[@hellobeatles613]

Billy has a video on this! I also highly recommend you start with his series for beginners haha I really wish I started with that. I also highly recommend TTMIK! Once you have a good grasp of the grammar I suggest finishing all the TTMIK Iyagi podcasts. Once you do all these you can start studying with native level /more natural content already haha good luck!!

[@justynak.6686]

Agree, start with ttmik's grammar course. It has 10 levels, each level has 25-30 short audio lessons that you can listen to e.g. on your commute or while walking. It has accompanying free pdfs, someone also created a course on Memrise with all the vocab from ttmik, so you can use that for review. I also recommend joining korean learners community on reddit, where you can ask questions if something is unclear. There is also a thread with lots of recommended resources, definitely check this out. Good luck on your journey!

[@iyamorales7216]

Thankyou for replying. Yes I will try TTMIK thankyou for your recommendation ❤️

[@ajithisaac603]

First like, first comment

[@princerawat4679]

FIRST