Korean Words 601 to 700: Ranked List with Romanization and Audio

Korean Words 601 to 700 at a Glance

Korean words 601 to 700 are the second unit of the Top 1000 Korean Words list. Words 1 to 500 name the objects, people and routines of daily life. This unit moves to what you read in the news and hear at work: laws, prices, illness, school and change over time.

Of the 100 words, 96 are Sino-Korean (built from syllables of Chinese origin), 2 are native Korean and 2 are loanwords from English. The high Sino-Korean share is normal at this level, because formal and abstract words come mostly from that layer. The origin column marks each word. The first column is a suggested study order for a B1 learner. It is an editorial judgement and not a frequency count, so word 650 is not necessarily rarer than word 640.

These lists hold nouns, adverbs and connectors. Verbs are in the verbs section, and a few nouns here, such as 협력 (cooperation), can take 하다 to make a verb: 협력하다. You need to read Hangul to use the tables. If you cannot yet, start with reading Hangul.

Which Words Ranked 601 to 700 Should You Learn First?

Learn the words that match what you do this month before the rest. A learner who reads the news needs 정책, 경제적 and 증가 first, and a learner who studies at a Korean university needs 강의, 등록금 and 장학금 first. Pick the line that fits you:

1. If you follow the news. 사회적, 법률, 정책, 피해, 증가 and 감소.
2. If you work in an office. 매출, 비용, 예산, 고객, 수요 and 협력.
3. If you visit a doctor. 증상, 치료, 통증, 검사, 처방 and 회복.
4. If you study. 학문, 석사, 박사, 등록금, 강의 and 방학.
5. If you plan for the future. 계획 is already in the first 500 words, so add 단계, 과정, 확대 and 필요성.

At 10 words a day the unit takes ten days, and at 5 words a day it takes twenty. Add a review day after each group.

Society and Law

The society and law words describe how a community sets rules and settles disputes. 법률 (law), 권리 (right) and 의무 (duty) are the three base words. 제도 is the system, 정책 is the plan a government follows, and 재판, 판사 and 법원 name the court side. The ending -적 appears in the first word: 사회적 (social) is 사회 (society) plus -적, which turns a noun into a describing word. It usually comes before a noun, as in 사회적 문제 (a social problem), or takes 으로 to work like an adverb: 사회적으로 중요해요 (it is socially important).

Three points need care. 법 is law in general, while 법률 is a written statute, so people obey the 법 and the National Assembly passes a 법률. 국민 (citizens of a nation, from the first 500 words) and 시민 (members of a city or community) overlap, but only 국민 is tied to nationality. 피해 (damage) and 범죄 (crime) often appear together in news: 범죄 피해 means damage from crime. For more crime and court words, see the law and crime vocabulary page, and for politics see politics and government vocabulary.

Example Sentences

Each example is a short polite sentence. Many follow the pattern noun + 이/가 + verb, where 이/가 is the subject particle. Say a sentence aloud, then swap the first noun. In 새 법률이 다음 달에 시작돼요 you can replace 법률 with 제도 and get 새 제도가 다음 달에 시작돼요 (A new system starts next month). The particles are explained in the Korean particles guide.

How Do You Say Money and Business in Korean?

Business words follow the path of a product: 생산 (production), 상품 (goods), 수요 (demand), 수출 (export), 거래 (the deal), 고객 (the customer) and 매출 (the sales). The cost side is 비용, 예산, 손해 and 임금. When you read the economy news, 물가 (prices) and 경쟁 (competition) come up in almost every report.

The word 경제적 is the second -적 word. It has two uses. 경제적 어려움 means economic difficulty, and 경제적인 차 means a car that is cheap to run. In the second use English says economical. 소비자 shows another ending: -자 names the person who does the action, so 소비 (consumption) becomes 소비자 (consumer). You will see the same ending in 환자 (patient) in the next group and in 투자자 (investor) on the finance and stocks vocabulary page. For everyday bank and money words, see the bank vocabulary page.

A Business Message That Uses 11 Words from This Unit

Here is a short formal message of the kind a company sends to a partner. The words from this unit are in bold.

안녕하세요. 이번 달 매출과 비용을 정리해서 보내 드립니다. 예산 안에서 새 상품을 준비하는 단계입니다. 고객 의견을 반영해 서비스 개선을 진행하겠습니다. 행사 기간이 변경되면 다시 연락드리겠습니다. 협력해 주셔서 감사합니다.

In English: Hello. We are sending you this month's sales and costs, organised. We are at the stage of preparing a new product within the budget. We will carry out service improvements that reflect customers' opinions. If the event period changes, we will contact you again. Thank you for your cooperation.

The sentences end in -ㅂ니다, the formal ending, which is common in written business Korean. In speech between colleagues you would more often hear the polite -요 ending.

Health and Body

Health words follow a visit to the doctor. You describe a 증상 (symptom) or 통증 (pain), the doctor makes a 진단 (diagnosis), gives a 처방 (prescription) and plans a 치료 (treatment), and you hope for a quick 회복 (recovery). The rest of the group is about staying healthy: 체력, 근육, 영양, 휴식 and 수면. 건강 (health) is already in the first 500 words.

스트레스 is a loanword, and it is paired with a verb that surprises English speakers. Korean says you receive stress, 스트레스를 받다, and you relieve it with 스트레스를 풀다 (to release stress). 수면 and 잠 both mean sleep, but 수면 is formal and appears in articles and on medicine labels, while 잠 is the everyday word, as in 잠이 와요 (I feel sleepy). The health and medical vocabulary page has more words for the clinic and the pharmacy.

How Do You Say Education and Culture in Korean?

Education words describe the path through school and beyond: 학년 (grade), 학기 (semester), 방학 (vacation), 입시 (entrance exam), 등록금 (tuition), then 석사 (master's), 박사 (doctorate) and 대학원 (graduate school). The learning words are 학문, 학습, 교양 and 기초. The word for education itself, 교육, is in the previous unit. The last word of this group is 문화 (culture), which opens a word family you will see again in the next unit.

학습 and 공부 both mean study, but 학습 is the formal word used in textbooks and plans, as in 학습 계획 (study plan). In daily talk say 공부. 교수 is a university professor, and a school teacher is 선생님. Add 님 when you speak about or to a professor, as in 교수님. Education is also a topic of the Korean exam, and the official TOPIK information is on topik.go.kr. The TOPIK vocabulary page lists exam-oriented words.

Time and Change

This group describes how things move over time. 과정 (process), 단계 (stage) and 진행 (progress) describe steps. 시기, 순간, 기간 and 당시 name points and spans of time. 성장, 증가, 감소, 확대, 변동 and 개선 describe change, and 필요성 describes what must happen. The ending -성 is the partner of -적: it turns a noun or a root into a quality, so 필요 (need) becomes 필요성 (necessity), and 가능 (possible) becomes 가능성 (possibility), a word from the previous unit.

변화 (change, from the first 500 words) and 변경 (a deliberate alteration) are close. If the weather changes, say 변화. If you change a booking, say 변경: 예약 변경 (booking change). 증가 and 감소 are opposites you can read as a pair, and they often take 하다: 인구가 증가하다 (the population increases).

Register Pairs

Some words in this unit have an everyday partner. Use the formal word in writing, news and meetings, and the everyday word in conversation.

How Do You Pronounce These Words?

Most words in this unit are said as they are spelled, but the Sino-Korean syllables bring several sound changes. The table shows eight that learners often get wrong.

The rules come from the Standard Pronunciation rules (표준 발음법) of the 국립국어원. Revised Romanization does not write tensing that comes from a neighbouring sound, so it writes 필요성 as piryoseong and 장학금 as janghakgeum, even though the spoken forms are [피료썽] and [장학끔]. It does write the changes in 법률 (beomnyul), 협력 (hyeomnyeok), 근육 (geunyuk) and 학년 (hangnyeon). In everyday speech the ending -적 is often said with a tense sound, as in 사회적 [사회쩍], although dictionaries give the plain [사회적]. Learn the Hangul and use the audio.

Audio and Slow Playback

Each word has a normal clip, and five harder words also have a slow clip at 0.8 times the speed: 법률, 근육, 학년, 필요성 and 장학금. Nothing plays until you press a button.

Listen to 법률 first. You should hear a nasal m in the middle, so the word sounds close to beom-nyul. Then listen to 근육, where the second syllable begins with ny.

What Mistakes Do Learners Make with Words Ranked 601 to 700?

• Mixing up 수출 and 수입. The syllable 출 means out and 입 means in, so 수출 sends goods out of the country and 수입 brings goods in. They sound alike when said fast, so check the syllable.
• Using 국민 and 시민 as if they were the same. A foreign resident can be called a 시민 of a city, but 국민 means the nationals of a country.
• Using 사회적 as a noun. It is a describing word. Say 사회적 문제 (a social problem), not 사회적을 말해요.
• Translating "I am stressed" word by word. Learn the fixed pair instead: 스트레스를 받다 (to receive stress) and 스트레스를 풀다 (to release stress).
• Reading 학년 as hak-nyeon. It is said [항년].
• Calling a school teacher 교수. 교수 is for universities. A school teacher is 선생님.

The 스트레스 pair is the one that most changes how natural you sound, because the verb choice is fixed and you have to memorise it. The next sections turn the list into practice.

Practice: Flashcards and Worksheet

Study in three steps. First, run the deck in recognition mode until the 100 words feel familiar. Second, switch to listening mode and press the clip before the card turns. Third, take the quiz below. The deck stores your progress only in your browser. The vocabulary flashcard decks page lists the other decks, and the vocabulary worksheets page lists printable sheets. A printable worksheet for these words (word list, matching, writing practice, fill-in-the-blank exercises and answer key) is available in A4 and US Letter from the download card on this page.

The deck holds the same 100 cards as the tables above: Hangul, Revised Romanization and meaning.

Try this eight-question check.

Where to Go Next

Go back to Korean words 501 to 600 if you need to review, or continue with Korean words 701 to 800, which covers culture, nature, technology and travel. The parent page is Top 1000 Korean Words. To see how one noun builds a family of words, open Sino-Korean words.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Say Social in Korean?

Social is 사회적 (sahoejeok). It is 사회 (society) plus the ending -적, which turns a noun into a describing word. It comes before a noun, as in 사회적 문제 (a social problem). With 으로 it works like an adverb: 사회적으로 중요해요 (it is socially important).

How Do You Pronounce 문화 (munhwa)?

문화 is said mun-hwa. The first syllable ends in the n sound, and the second starts with h and the vowel sound wa. There is no sound change between the two syllables. Say them smoothly together and compare with the audio on the education and culture group.

How Many Words Ranked 601 to 700 Should I Learn First?

Learn about 30 first. Choose 10 words for your main need, such as news (정책, 증가, 피해), work (매출, 비용, 고객) or study (강의, 등록금, 석사). Add the pairs 권리 and 의무, 수출 and 수입, and 증가 and 감소, then finish the rest of the unit over the next two weeks.

Where Can I Practise Words Ranked 601 to 700 with Flashcards?

Use the vocabulary flashcard decks, which list every deck with audio. This page also carries a deck with all 100 words in recognition mode. Your progress stays in your browser, so it is not shared with other devices.

Is the Romanization on This Page Official?

It follows the Revised Romanization of Korean, which South Korea officially adopted on 7 July 2000 and whose rules the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) publishes. It is a learning aid that does not show tensing caused by a neighbouring sound, so learn the Hangul and use the audio.

Is There a Printable Worksheet for Words Ranked 601 to 700?

A printable worksheet for these words (word list, matching, writing practice, fill-in-the-blank exercises and answer key) is available in A4 and US Letter from the download card on this page. For practice, write the Hangul from memory, cover the English column and check your answers against the tables.

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