100 in Korean: 백 (baek), Hundreds and Prices

Key Facts

• 100 is 백 (baek). It is a Sino-Korean number, built from Chinese-derived roots.
• 200 is 이백, 300 is 삼백, and so on up to 900, which is 구백.
• 백 normally has no 일 in front of it. 일백 appears only in formal or legal writing.
• 백일 can mean 101 or the 100th day after a birth. Context tells you which.
• Korean has no everyday native word for 100, so 백 is used with native counters too.

How Do You Say 100 in Korean?

100 in Korean is 백 (baek). The syllable is spelled ㅂ + ㅐ + ㄱ, and the final ㄱ is a closed sound: your tongue stays back and the air stops, so it sounds like "baek" with no extra vowel at the end.

1. 100 is 백. There is no "one" in front. Korean says 백, not "일백", in ordinary speech.
2. Other hundreds put a digit before 백. 2 × 100 is 이백, 3 × 100 is 삼백.
3. 100 is a Sino-Korean word. It belongs to the same system as 일, 이, 삼 and 십. The linked lesson on Sino-Korean numbers 1-100 covers the digits you need first.

The Chinese-derived character behind 백 is 百. You do not need to know it to use the number, but it explains why 백 behaves like a unit of 100 and not like a digit.

How Do Hundreds Work?

Hundreds work like this: write the digit, then 백. The digit is a Sino-Korean one (일, 이, 삼, 사, 오, 육, 칠, 팔, 구). The only exception is the digit 1, which is dropped in front of 백. 100 is 백 and not 일백, just as 10 is 십 and not 일십.

Listen to each hundred in turn.

A second point: 사백 (400) and 사 (4) both use the root 사. Some learners worry that 사백 sounds like another word. In practice the context (a price, a page number) keeps the meaning clear.

Because every hundred has the same shape, one rule covers nine numbers. Next, the places where you will actually meet them.

Where Does 백 Appear in Daily Life?

백 appears wherever Korean reports an amount, a score, a rate or a count above 99. Native Korean numbers stop at 99, so 100 and above always use Sino-Korean 백. The five most common settings are below.

Prices and Coins

The 100 won coin is the 백 원짜리 동전. The suffix 짜리 means "worth" or "of that value". A 500 won coin is an 오백 원짜리 동전. Say the number, a space, then 원 (won). The linked page on the 원 counter explains the spacing and the rule for 원 in more detail, and Korean won: bills, coins and prices lists the denominations.

A perfect mark out of 100 is 백 점 (100 points). The counter 점 means "point" or "mark". You can say it in a sentence:

• 시험에서 백 점을 받았어요. (I got 100 points on the exam.) [시허메서 백쩌믈 바다써요]

The tense sound in 백 점 [백쩜] is again the rule that tenses ㅈ after a final ㄱ.

100 percent is 백 퍼센트. Spoken Korean also uses 백 프로, where 프로 is a casual shortening of 퍼센트. Both are common. Written, you will often see 100%.

• 백 퍼센트 맞아요. (That is 100 percent right.)

Spaces are placed between the number and 퍼센트 in careful writing. Notice that 퍼센트 begins with ㅍ, a consonant that does not trigger tensing, so [백퍼센트] keeps the ㄱ sound.

Metres, kilometres and many other units use Sino-Korean numbers. 백 미터 is 100 metres. Before ㅁ, the final ㄱ turns into ㅇ: 백 미터 is read [뱅미터]. This is nasalization (Article 18): ㄱ, ㄷ and ㅂ become ㅇ, ㄴ and ㅁ before ㅁ or ㄴ. The sentence below uses the pattern.

• 집에서 학교까지 삼백 미터예요. (It is 300 metres from my house to school.)

백일 means "100 days". In Korea, the 100th day after a baby is born is celebrated as 백일, and the party is the 백일잔치. The word is also used for the 100th day of a relationship or a 100-day challenge. When a day is meant, writers often use 100일, with the counter 일 (day). This makes the next section important, because 백일 is also the number 101.

Hundreds in daily life all follow the same rule, but learners often ask whether 100 also has a native Korean word.

Is There a Native Korean Word for 100?

Native Korean has an old word for 100: 온. It is no longer used for counting. A modern speaker does not say "온 명" for 100 people; they say 백 명. The word 온 survives only inside compounds where it means "whole" or "all", such as 온종일 (all day long), 온 세상 (the whole world) and 온갖 (all kinds of). The standard dictionary of the National Institute of Korean Language (표준국어대사전) lists 온 as a determiner meaning "whole".

The reason for this gap is historical. Native Korean numbers (하나, 둘, 셋 and so on) cover 1 to 99 in everyday speech, and Sino-Korean 백 long ago replaced 온 as the word for the next step. The same gap explains why a phrase such as 백 살 (100 years old) uses Sino-Korean 백 with the age counter 살. The linked page on Sino and native numbers compares the two systems side by side, and native Korean numbers 1-100 lists the native words.

Quick rule: if the number is 100 or higher, use the Sino-Korean word, even with counters that normally take native numbers.

Numbers over 100 are read from left to right, one place value at a time: hundreds, then tens, then ones. A place with zero is skipped. The digit 1 is dropped in front of 백 and 십, but the last digit 1 is always said as 일.

Look at the exceptions. In 101, the 1 at the end is 일 because it is the last digit, not a digit in front of a unit. In 111 the first 1 is dropped (no 일 before 백), the second 1 is dropped (no 일 before 십), and the last 1 stays as 일. The same logic reads 1,100 as 천백 and not 일천일백.

• 백이십 is read [배기십].
• 백오십 is read [배고십].
• 백십 is read [백씹], because ㅅ is tensed after a final ㄱ.

A sentence with a long number: 일 년은 삼백육십오 일이에요. (One year is 365 days.) Here 일 appears twice with two meanings: in 일 년 it is the number 1 (one year), and in 삼백육십오 일 it is the counter for days. Context sorts them out, and your ear will too after a few listens.

Spelling 백일 can mean two things: 101 (백 + 일) and 100 days (백 + 일, "day"). Spoken Korean does not separate them. Context does the work: a baby party or a challenge means 100 days, and a page number or a room number means 101. When written clearly, writers use 101 for the number and 100일 for the day count. Learners meet this often in the question 오늘 백일이에요? (Is it the 100th day today?)

The standard spelling rules (한글 맞춤법 제43항) put a space between a number and its counter in most cases, such as 백 원 and 백 점. Writers often leave the space out in compact notes, but the careful form has the space.

How Does 백 Compare with 일백?

일백 is a real form: it means exactly "one hundred" and uses the digit 일 before 백. It is written out in contexts that avoid ambiguity, such as the amount on a cheque, a contract or a legal document: 일백만 원 (1,000,000 won). Everyday speech and ordinary writing never add 일. If a learner says "일백 원" at a shop, the clerk will understand but may find it stiff.

Use this simple table to decide.

The last row shows why 일 still appears in some numbers: in a room number, 101호 is read 백일 호, and the 일 is the last digit 1. The counter 호 (room) also separates this reading from the 100-day meaning of 백일.

Learners make five predictable mistakes with 100, and each has a short fix.

1. Saying 일백 in a shop. The fix is to say 백. The extra 일 belongs to legal and written-out amounts.
2. Using a native number with 100. Native Korean has no working word for 100, so 하나 백 and 열 백 are not Korean. Use 백 and a Sino-Korean count: 이백, 삼백.
3. Dropping the last 일. The 일 in 백일 (101) is not optional. Drop it and the number turns into 100.
4. Forgetting the sound changes. 육백 is [육빽], 백 원 is [배권] and 백 미터 is [뱅미터]. Reading the spelling letter by letter gives a foreign accent, so repeat the audio clips until the linked sound feels normal.
5. Mixing up 백 and 십. The two are close in size when you are tired. 십 is ten and 백 is a hundred, so 십 원 is a 10 won coin and 백 원 is a 100 won coin.

A useful test: read the prices on any Korean receipt or menu aloud, one line at a time, and check the amounts by adding them up. The habit builds the place-value reflex faster than a list of single numbers does, and it prepares you for the thousands on the next page.

Practice: Say These in Korean

Cover the right column and say each number aloud. Then check the answer and play the audio.

Now the listening versions.

After the hundreds, the next step is the thousands. The lesson on 1000 in Korean shows how 천 behaves like 백 and how to read menu prices. For the full range, see how to say large numbers in Korean. If you want one chart that lists every number from 1 to 100 in both systems, open Korean numbers 1-100, and to see all related lessons go to Korean Numbers.

If a clip sounds different from what you hear in Seoul, tell us on the corrections page.

Frequently Asked Questions

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