Korean Traditional House Vocabulary: Word List with Audio and Examples

Korean Traditional House Vocabulary at a Glance

Korean traditional house vocabulary starts with 한옥, a house with a tiled roof, paper doors and a heated floor. The heated floor is 온돌, and it is the part of the house that surprises most visitors, because people sit and sleep on it. A hanok also has a wooden-floored hall called 대청마루 and an open yard called 마당. This page holds 30 words in five groups.

The list belongs to Traditional Culture. For the rooms and furniture of an ordinary modern home, use the house vocabulary list. The next section says where to start.

Which Hanok and Ondol Words Should You Learn First?

Learn 한옥, 온돌, 마당 and 기와 first. They name the house, its heating, its yard and its roof, and they are the words signs and guides use most. Then learn the heating words in order, because they explain how the floor gets warm.

1. Day one. 한옥, 온돌, 마당, 기와 and 대문.
2. Day two. The parts of the house: 대청마루, 안채, 사랑채, 처마, 문살 and 툇마루.
3. Day three. The heating words in order: 아궁이, 구들, 아랫목, 윗목 and 굴뚝.
4. Day four. The materials, the yard words and the words for a hanok stay.

At 8 to 10 words a day, the list takes three to four days plus review. This scene puts eight of the words on one picture.

Word · 8

1. 1

   한옥

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   hanok

   hanok; traditional Korean house

2. 2

   기와

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   giwa

   giwa; roof tile

3. 3

   대청마루

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   daecheongmaru

   daecheongmaru; wooden-floored main hall

4. 4

   온돌

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   ondol

   ondol; underfloor heating

5. 5

   아궁이

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   agungi

   agungi; the opening where the fire is lit

6. 6

   굴뚝

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   gulttuk

   chimney

7. 7

   마당

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   madang

   madang; yard; courtyard

8. 8

   대문

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   daemun

   daemun; main gate

By origin, the list has 9 Sino-Korean words, 13 native words, 1 loanword and 7 mixed words. Native words such as 마당, 기와 and 굴뚝 name the everyday parts, and Sino-Korean words such as 온돌, 한지 and 예약 come from Chinese-based vocabulary. The origin column in each table marks them. The first group names the house itself.

Parts of a Hanok

A traditional house is a group of buildings around a yard. The family lived in the 안채 (inner building), and guests stayed in the 사랑채 (outer building). Between the rooms was the 대청마루, a wide wooden hall that stays cool in summer, and a narrow porch called a 툇마루. The roof is covered with 기와 tiles, and its wide 처마 (eaves) shade the walls. The doors are a wooden frame, the 문살, covered with paper.

Notice that 안채 and 사랑채 both end in 채, which means a building within a house compound. The word 한옥 is a Sino-Korean compound: 한 (Korean) and 옥 (house). In everyday talk, a house is 집, and 한옥 names the traditional type.

Example Sentences

Each example is a short polite sentence. Most use the pattern place + 에 + 있어요 (is at a place) or place + 에서 + action. For example, 마당에 우물이 있어요 means there is a well in the yard, and 대청마루에서 쉬어요 means I rest on the hall floor. Say the sentences aloud, then swap in another part of the house.

The heating group follows the path of the heat, so its sentences read like a story. The materials come next.

How Do You Say Heating (온돌) in Korean?

Ondol is a heating system built into the floor. A fire is lit in the 아궁이, an opening at the edge of the kitchen. The hot air passes through channels under the floor stones, called 구들, and warms the room above. The smoke leaves through a 굴뚝 (chimney). The place nearest the fire is the 아랫목, the warmest spot, and the far side is the 윗목, which is cooler. Modern homes use a 보일러 (boiler) to warm water pipes in the floor, which is the same idea.

The flow of heat gives you the words in order. Read the table below from top to bottom, and say each word as you go.

In a modern home with a 보일러, the floor still stays warm, but a gas or electric burner replaces the open fire. A common phrase in winter is 바닥이 따뜻해요 (the floor is warm).

Materials

A hanok is built from materials found near the village: wood, clay and paper. Posts called 기둥 hold up the roof, and the walls are filled with 흙 (soil) or 황토 (a reddish-yellow clay). Doors and windows are covered with 한지, a paper made from the bark of the mulberry tree. The paper used for doors is called 창호지, and it lets soft light into the room.

The word 흙 ends in two consonants, ㄹ and ㄱ, but you say only one before a pause: [흑]. Before a vowel, both sounds appear, as in 흙을 [흘글]. The verb 바르다 in the example is irregular: 바르다 becomes 발라요, not 바라요.

How Do You Say Courtyards and Gates in Korean?

The 마당 is the open yard at the centre of the compound, where the family dried food and held celebrations. A 대문 (main gate) leads in from the lane, and a low 돌담 (stone wall) often runs around the yard. On a raised platform called the 장독대 stood the large jars for soy sauce and other fermented foods, and many houses had an 우물 (well).

The word 마당 also appears in 마당놀이, a traditional performance given in a yard, but in this list it means the yard of a house.

Hanok Stays

Many hanok today are guesthouses. You choose a 한옥 스테이, make a 예약 (reservation), sleep on bedding laid on the warm floor, and sometimes eat 조식 (breakfast) in the morning. Some towns keep whole streets of hanok, which are called a 한옥마을. Jeonju Hanok Village is a well-known example.

On booking sites, 조식 is the word for breakfast, and 아침 식사 is the everyday phrase. The same listing may say 온돌방 (ondol room), which means a room with a heated floor and bedding, and 침대방 (bed room), which has a bed. Check which room you are booking.

How Do You Pronounce These Words?

Many of these words change in speech because a final consonant meets a following consonant or vowel. The table lists the changes that learners most often miss.

The rules come from the Standard Pronunciation rules (표준 발음법) of the 국립국어원.

Audio and Slow Playback

Each word has a normal clip, and 5 key words also have a slow clip at 0.8 times the speed: 한옥, 온돌, 아랫목, 굴뚝 and 창호지. Nothing plays until you press a button.

Listen to 아랫목 first. You should hear four syllables with an n sound before the m: a-raen-mok, and the middle is a clear nasal, not a t.

What Mistakes Do Learners Make with Hanok and Ondol Words?

• Calling the whole house 온돌. 온돌 is the heating system, and the house is a 한옥.
• Reading 한옥 as han-ok. The spoken form is [하녹], with the ㄴ moved onto the vowel.
• Using 방 for the whole house. 방 is a room, and 집 is a house.
• Thinking 아랫목 means the lower floor. It means the warmest part of the heated floor, nearest the fire.
• Spelling 아랫목 as 아래목. The standard spelling keeps the ㅅ, which shows up when the word is said as [아랜목].

The first and fourth mistakes change the meaning, and the others only change how natural you sound. The next section turns the list into practice.

Practice: Flashcards and Worksheet

Drill these words with the vocabulary flashcard decks. 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. Progress in the decks is saved only in your browser.

Try this five-question check, then say the 30 words aloud once more.

For the heating word on its own, see underfloor heating in Korean, and for the house on its own, see traditional house in Korean.

Where to Go Next

This list sits inside Traditional Culture. After Korean traditional house vocabulary, many learners move on to Hanbok Vocabulary for the clothing, or to Korean Palaces and History Vocabulary for the royal buildings.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Say Traditional House in Korean?

A traditional Korean house is 한옥 (hanok). The word joins 한 (Korean) and 옥 (house). It is said [하녹], because the ㄴ moves onto the next vowel. A regular house is 집. To say you slept in a traditional house, use 한옥에서 잤어요 (hanogeseo jasseoyo). The word 한옥 is the one signs use.

How Do You Pronounce 온돌 (ondol)?

온돌 is said on-dol, in two beats. The first syllable 온 has a rounded ㅗ and ends in n. The second syllable 돌 starts with a plain ㄷ and ends in a light ㄹ, made by touching the tongue just behind the upper teeth. Use the slow clip to match the rhythm, and keep both syllables even.

How Many Hanok and Ondol Words Should I Learn First?

Learn five first: 한옥, 온돌, 마당, 기와 and 대문. That takes one day. Then add the heating words in order, the parts of the house and the materials. The whole list of 30 takes three to four days at 8 to 10 words a day, with review on the fifth day.

Where Can I Practise Hanok and Ondol Words with Flashcards?

Use the traditional Korean culture words flashcards, a 29-card deck with audio that includes 한옥, 온돌, 기와 and 한지. A deck for the full hanok list is not available yet. Progress stays in your browser. The house vocabulary list covers rooms and furniture in a modern home, so review it together with this page to keep the two kinds of house vocabulary apart.

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 mark every sound change, so learn the Hangul and use the audio to hear the real sound.

Is There a Printable Worksheet for Hanok and Ondol Words?

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, copy the tables above by hand: write the Hangul, cover the English column, and check your answers against the page.

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