Key Facts
- Hangul: 팔 (pal)
- Meaning: arm
- Part of speech: noun
- Origin: native Korean
- Register: neutral everyday word with no honorific counterpart
- Level: A1
Arm in Korean: What Does 팔 Mean?
팔 is a native Korean noun with one sense: the arm. It is a neutral everyday word with no honorific form, so you can say it to anyone. Two neighbouring words mark its edges. 손 is the hand only, while 팔 runs from the shoulder down to the wrist. 다리 is the leg (it also means bridge), the lower-limb partner of 팔.
How Do You Pronounce 팔?
The Revised Romanization is pal. When a vowel follows, the final ㄹ moves into the next syllable and becomes a light tap, which is why the first example below is romanised pari apayo, not pal-i apayo. Play the headword, then each example in turn.
How Do You Use 팔 in a Sentence?
팔이 아파요.
My arm hurts.
pari apayo. The marker 이 attaches to 팔 because the word ends in a consonant, and 아파요 is the polite form for hurts. This is the standard way to report pain in one limb.
그는 팔이 길어요.
He has long arms.
geuneun pari gireoyo. 그는 means he as the topic (it is more common in writing than in speech), 팔이 is the subject of the description, and 길어요 means long. Korean says the arm is long rather than he has long arms, so the body part gets its own marker.
팔을 들어 주세요.
Please raise your arm.
pareul deureo juseyo. 을 marks 팔 as the thing being lifted, 들어 is the verb, and 주세요 turns it into a polite request. You will hear this in exercise classes and at a doctor's visit.
Common Word Combinations
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 팔을 뻗다 | to stretch out one's arm |
| 팔짱을 끼다 | to fold/link arms |
| 팔이 부러지다 | to break one's arm |
Look at 팔짱을 끼다. It contains 팔 but describes linking or folding arms, so it is a set phrase rather than a literal arm sentence. 팔을 뻗다 and 팔이 부러지다 are literal and take the same 을 or 이 markers as the examples above.
Common Mistake
Mistake: hearing 팔 and thinking only of the number eight. 팔 (arm) and the Sino-Korean number 팔 (eight) are spelled and pronounced exactly the same.
Correction: let the rest of the sentence decide. 팔이 아파요 can only mean the arm hurts, because pain needs a body part. The number eight also appears inside the month of August, which is built on the Sino-Korean number (August in Korean).
How Does 팔 Differ from Similar Words?
| Word | Meaning | How to tell it from 팔 |
|---|---|---|
| 다리 | leg | 다리 is the leg (it also means bridge). Pick 팔 for the upper limb and 다리 for the lower limb. |
| 손 | hand | 손 is the hand alone. 팔 starts at the shoulder and ends at the wrist, so pain between the wrist and the shoulder is in the 팔, and a sore palm is 손. |
At the Clinic: Which Arm Hurts?
A patient is showing a doctor where the pain is. Both speakers use polite endings; the body-part word itself stays 팔.
Doctor
어느 팔이 아파요?
Eoneu pari apayo?
Which arm hurts?
Patient
오른팔이 아파요.
Oreunpari apayo.
My right arm hurts.
Doctor
팔을 들어 주세요.
Pareul deureo juseyo.
Please raise your arm.
Patient
여기가 아파요.
Yeogiga apayo.
It hurts here.
오른팔 means right arm and 왼팔 means left arm. Each is written as one word. When the side matters, naming it is more useful than simply repeating 팔. The patient can also point and use 여기, “here”, once the doctor knows which arm they mean.
Where Will You Hear 팔?
At a clinic, 팔이 아파요 reports pain without claiming to know its cause. 팔이 부러지다 describes a fracture, so it is much more specific than “my arm hurts”. Do not treat the two phrases as interchangeable descriptions of a sore arm.
In exercise instructions, 팔을 들어 주세요 asks you to raise an arm. 팔을 뻗다 means to extend it: raising and reaching are different movements. A trainer may demonstrate the movement while saying the instruction, so watch the direction as well as listening for 팔.
In descriptions of people, Korean often leaves out “my” or “your” when the owner is obvious. A patient saying 팔이 아파요 normally means their own arm. The sentence does not need a possessive word to be complete, and it does not specify one arm versus both without further context.
What Does Folding or Linking Arms Imply?
팔짱을 끼다 can describe folding your own arms across your chest or linking arms with another person. The scene supplies the difference: one person standing alone may have folded arms, while two people walking side by side may be linking arms. The phrase alone does not prove that someone is angry or that two people are dating.
The idiom 팔짱을 끼고 보다 literally evokes watching with folded arms. Its figurative meaning is to stand by without helping or intervening. This use is listed in the National Institute of Korean Language’s entry for 팔짱. In a news discussion, the criticism concerns inaction, rather than the actual position of someone’s arms.
Name the Part More Precisely
| Korean | Meaning | When it helps |
|---|---|---|
| 어깨 | shoulder | Name the joint at the top of the arm. |
| 팔꿈치 | elbow | Identify pain around the middle joint. |
| 손목 | wrist | Distinguish the joint beside the hand from the whole arm. |
| 손 | hand | Use this for the hand rather than the upper limb. |
The body vocabulary lesson teaches the wider set. If you can identify the exact joint, use its name; if you only know the general area, 팔 still gives the listener a useful starting point.
Quick Self-Test
- Which word names the hand rather than the arm?
- In 팔이 아파요, why is the marker 이 rather than 가?
- Does 팔짱을 끼다 always mean two people are linking arms?
Show answers
- 손 names the hand.
- 팔 ends in the consonant ㄹ, so it takes 이.
- No. It can also mean folding your own arms across your chest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 팔 the Same as 손?
No. 팔 is the arm from shoulder to wrist and 손 is the hand only.
Does 팔 Have an Honorific Form?
No. It is a neutral everyday word, so it works with everyone.
How Do I Tell 팔 the Arm from 팔 the Number?
They sound identical, so context decides. A sentence about pain or length, like 팔이 길어요, is about the body part.
How Do I Say My Arm Hurts?
Say 팔이 아파요. The marker 이 follows 팔 because the word ends in a consonant.
Where to Go Next
For more body words, open the people body vocabulary list or browse Korean words A to Z. Next in the sequence is the Korean word for back, and you can compare the arm with the hand and the leg.