Korean Insects Vocabulary: 25 Words with Romanization and Audio

Korean Insects Vocabulary at a Glance

Korean summers are loud and full of insects. Cicadas fill the afternoon with sound, crickets take over the evenings in autumn, and mosquitoes and cockroaches make their way into the vocabulary of everyone who rents an apartment. This list begins with the winged insects of the garden, moves through crawlers and hoppers, gives the sound insects a group of their own, covers the pests you will want to name when you complain or ask for help, and finishes with the general words and body parts. It sits in Animals. For a single-word lookup of the most loved insect, see butterfly in Korean.

Which Insect Names Should You Learn First?

Learn 벌레, 나비, 벌, 개미, 매미 and 모기 first. They name the creatures you notice outdoors and the one you ask about in a hotel room. 벌레 is the most useful word on the page, because it lets you say that there is a bug before you know its name.

• Words to say. 벌레, 나비, 벌, 개미, 매미, 모기.
• Words to recognise. 곤충, 해충, 바퀴벌레, 말벌. They appear in school texts, on pest-control signs and in news about summer.
• Words to match. 더듬이, 고치, 애벌레. Match them to a picture of the life of a butterfly and they stay in your head.

The difference between 곤충 and 벌레 matters at once. 곤충 is the exact word for an animal with six legs and three body parts. 벌레 is wider and warmer: Koreans use it for ants, flies, worms and even spiders, and a parent who says 벌레 is not asking for a lesson in biology. The scene below shows a garden with numbered insects that match the list.

Word · 10

1. 1

   나비

   Play

   nabi

   butterfly

2. 2

   벌

   Play

   beol

   bee; wasp

3. 3

   잠자리

   Play

   jamjari

   dragonfly

4. 4

   반딧불이

   Play

   banditburi

   firefly

5. 5

   개미

   Play

   gaemi

   ant

6. 6

   무당벌레

   Play

   mudangbeolle

   ladybug

7. 7

   매미

   Play

   maemi

   cicada

8. 8

   모기

   Play

   mogi

   mosquito

9. 9

   곤충

   Play

   gonchung

   insect

10. 10

    벌레

    Play

    beolle

    bug; creepy-crawly

Flying Insects

Six winged insects open the list. 나비 is the butterfly and 나방 is the moth, and the two names are close in sound. 벌 is the bee and 말벌 is the hornet, a larger insect that Koreans treat with care in late summer. 잠자리 is the dragonfly, which fills the sky in early autumn, and 반딧불이 is the firefly, seen on summer nights in places with clean streams.

Example Sentences

Insect sentences use three simple frames. The first is insect + 가 + place + 에 + 앉아요 (sits on), as in 나비가 꽃에 앉아요. The second is season + 에 + insect + 가 + 많아요 (there are many), as in 가을에 잠자리가 많아요. The third is insect + 는 + adjective, as in 말벌은 위험해요. The particle 이 or 가 marks the new subject, and 은 or 는 marks the topic you are describing. Read each sentence aloud after its audio.

The next group holds insects that spend most of their time on the ground or on a leaf.

How Do You Say Crawling Insects in Korean?

These five live in grass, on leaves and under stones. 개미 is the ant and 무당벌레 is the ladybug, a red beetle that children like. 애벌레 is a caterpillar, which becomes a 나비 or 나방. 메뚜기 is the grasshopper that jumps in summer fields, and 사마귀 is the praying mantis. Together they cover most of what a child can find in a park, and each is a word that comes up in picture books.

Note how 무당벌레 and 애벌레 both end in 벌레. When a new bug name ends in 벌레, you can guess it is some kind of small bug or larva.

Summer Sounds (매미)

No insect shapes a Korean summer like the cicada. 매미 is the cicada, and its loud, steady call is written 맴맴. In autumn the cricket, 귀뚜라미, takes the stage and its sound is 귀뚤귀뚤. Korean sound words for insects are usually doubled, so a pair of syllables repeats. You will see them in comics and read them aloud in children's stories. The cicada is also a cultural image of summer heat, and the verb for its call is 울다. For more of this kind of word, see animal sounds.

Learn the animal and its sound as a pair. When you know 매미, you can guess 맴맴, and when you know 귀뚜라미, you can guess 귀뚤귀뚤.

How Do You Say Pests in Korean?

Some insects are the ones you want out of the house. 모기 is the mosquito, 파리 is the fly and 바퀴벌레 is the cockroach. 거미 is the spider, which is not an insect in biology, but Koreans group it with 벌레 in daily speech. The general word for all of these is 해충, a harmful insect or pest. Knowing the names helps you read a label on a spray, a notice in an apartment building, or a news item about a mosquito season.

Each of these words works with the particle 이 or 가 as a subject, so you can say 모기가 있어요 (there is a mosquito) with confidence.

Insect Words and Body Parts

The last group gives the general words and the body vocabulary. 곤충 is the exact word for insect and 벌레 is the everyday word for a bug. 더듬이 is an antenna, 다리 is a leg and 고치 is the cocoon of a larva. Insects have six legs, so the number is a natural way to practise the counter 개. A caterpillar spins a 고치 before it changes, and the same word is used for the silk cocoon of a silkworm.

Use 곤충 when you want to be precise, and 벌레 when you want to sound natural.

How Do You Pronounce These Words?

Insect names are mostly said as written, but a few have a sound change or a tense consonant. Standard pronunciation follows the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) rules, and the romanization follows the Revised Romanization of Korean, which does not show tensing caused by a neighbouring sound.

The hardest sounds are the tense ㄸ in 귀뚜라미 and 메뚜기 and the tense ㅃ in 반딧불이. Close your throat slightly and say the sound without a puff of air. Compare the plain ㄷ in 더듬이 and 다리.

Audio and Slow Playback

Each word and sentence has its own clip. The five clips below replay the hardest words slowly. Play one, repeat it aloud, then play it again and compare.

What Mistakes Do Learners Make with Insect Names?

Five mistakes come up again and again.

1. Using 곤충 in everyday speech. If you see a bug in your room, say 벌레, not 곤충. 곤충 sounds like a school lesson.
2. Mixing up 벌 meanings. 벌 is a bee, but 벌 also means a punishment and is a counter for sets of clothes. 한 벌 means one outfit.
3. Mixing up 나비 and 나방. 나비 is the butterfly, and 나방 is the moth. Only the second syllable differs: 비 against 방.
4. Treating 다리, 파리 and 사마귀 as one-meaning words. Leg or bridge, fly or Paris, mantis or wart: always check the verb and the sentence.
5. Dropping the tense sounds. 귀뚜라미 and 메뚜기 need a tense ㄸ. A plain ㄷ sounds wrong to a Korean listener.

The practice section turns the list into drills.

Practice: Flashcards and Worksheet

Use three steps. Run the flashcard deck in recognition mode until the 25 words come quickly. Switch to listening mode, then take the quiz. The deck holds every word on this page with audio, and your progress stays in your browser. The vocabulary flashcard decks page lists the other 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. For practice, draw a garden and label five things in Korean: 나비, 벌, 개미, 잠자리, 매미.

Where to Go Next

After this page, continue with Korean Sea Animals Vocabulary for the creatures of the water, or return to feathered animals on Korean Birds Vocabulary. To move up a level, return to Animals.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Say Insect in Korean?

Insect is 곤충 (gonchung). In everyday speech, Koreans say 벌레 (beolle) for any small bug. Use 곤충 when you are talking about science or school, and 벌레 when you see something crawling in your room.

What Is the Difference between 벌레 and 곤충?

곤충 is the exact word for an insect, an animal with six legs. 벌레 is a wider, everyday word that also covers worms, spiders and other small creatures. A Korean who finds an ant in the kitchen will say 벌레, not 곤충.

How Do You Say Butterfly, Bee and Ant in Korean?

Butterfly is 나비, bee is 벌 and ant is 개미. You can say 나비가 꽃에 앉아요 for the butterfly sits on the flower. 벌 also means punishment, so check the sentence.

What Sound Does a Cicada Make in Korean?

A cicada says 맴맴 (maemmaem). A cricket says 귀뚤귀뚤 (gwittulgwittul). Both are doubled sound words, and the usual verb is 울다, to cry.

How Many Insect Words Should I Learn First?

Start with about six: 벌레, 나비, 벌, 개미, 매미 and 모기. The whole list of 25 takes about five days at five new words a day, with review.

Is the Romanization on This Page Official?

It follows the Revised Romanization of Korean, which South Korea adopted on 7 July 2000 and whose rules the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) publishes. It is a learning aid and does not mark every sound change, so rely on the Hangul and the audio.

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