Key Facts
- Hangul: 얼음; Revised Romanization: eoreum
- Part of speech: noun
- Origin: native
- Register: Neutral; used in all registers.
Ice in Korean: What Does 얼음 Mean?
얼음 is a neutral native word used in all registers, so it has no hanja. It is the frozen water itself. The related verb 얼다 means to freeze, and 얼음 is that verb with the noun ending -음 added, literally "something frozen".
How Do You Pronounce It?
Written eoreum, with two syllables, eo-reum. The ㄹ at the bottom of 얼 moves onto the next vowel and becomes a tap, so you hear eo-reum and not eol-eum.
Example Sentences with 얼음
얼음 주세요.
Eoreum juseyo
Ice, please.
Short and polite: 주세요 means "please give". This is how you ask for ice at a cafe.
얼음이 다 녹았어요.
Eoreumi da nogasseoyo
The ice has all melted.
녹았어요 is the past of melting, and 다 means "all". Use it when a drink has gone watery.
콜라에 얼음을 넣어요.
Kollae eoreumeul neoeoyo
I put ice in the cola.
넣어요 means "put in". 에 marks the cola as the place the ice goes, and 을 marks the ice as the object.
Collocations
These phrases show the ice life cycle: add it, melt it, and make it. 얼음을 얼리다 means making ice by freezing water.
| Korean | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 얼음을 넣다 | to put in ice |
| 얼음물 | ice water |
| 얼음이 녹다 | for ice to melt |
| 얼음을 얼리다 | to freeze ice |
The Mistake to Avoid
Learners keep the l at the end of the first syllable.
Wrong: eol-eum.
Correct: eo-reum. The ㄹ links to the next vowel, as the RR eoreum shows.
얼음 Compared with Similar Words
Three neighbours separate ice from the loanword, the verb and the snow.
| Word | Meaning | How it differs |
|---|---|---|
| 얼음 | ice | ice as a noun |
| 아이스 | iced (loanword) | loan word ice, as in 아이스 아메리카노 |
| 얼다 | to freeze | to freeze |
| 눈 | snow | snow |
Ordering an Iced Coffee
A customer orders at a cafe counter. The drink is iced, but the customer wants fewer cubes. The request changes the amount of ice while keeping the drink cold.
Customer
아이스 아메리카노 한 잔 주세요.
Aiseu amerikano han jan juseyo.
One iced Americano, please.
Staff
얼음은 얼마나 넣어 드릴까요?
Eoreumeun eolmana neoeo deurilkkayo?
How much ice would you like?
Customer
얼음은 조금만 넣어 주세요.
Eoreumeun jogeumman neoeo juseyo.
Please put in just a little ice.
Staff
네, 조금만 넣어 드릴게요.
Ne, jogeumman neoeo deurilgeyo.
Sure, I’ll put in just a little.
조금 means “a little”, and 만 adds “only”. The 은 in 얼음은 singles out the ice for a special instruction. Staff use 드릴까요 and 드릴게요 when offering to do something for the customer; you only need the request with 주세요 to order.
How Do You Change the Amount of Ice?
얼음 적게 means “less ice” in a short order note. In a spoken request, 얼음 조금만 넣어 주세요 gives the staff a complete, polite instruction. The literal wording is “please put in only a little ice”, rather than “make the whole drink smaller”.
얼음 빼 주세요 means “please leave out the ice”. 빼다 literally means to take something out, but when ordering it can ask for an ingredient to be omitted before preparation. 얼음 없이 means “without ice”, another useful phrase for an order note.
얼음 따로 주세요 asks for the ice separately. 따로 means “separately”, so it is useful when you want to add the cubes yourself. This request concerns how the ice is served; it does not ask for a different type of coffee.
An iced drink without cubes is not the same request as a hot drink. Use 아이스 to choose the drink category, then 얼음 to adjust the actual frozen water. A request for no ice does not itself say “hot”.
Everyday Phrases: Melting and Freezing
얼음이 녹다 means “the ice melts”. The ice is the subject of the change. 얼음을 녹이다 means “to melt the ice”: someone or something causes it to melt. The difference between 이 and 을 helps show who or what is doing the changing.
얼음을 얼리다 describes making ice by freezing water. Although a word-for-word English version can sound like “freeze ice”, the natural meaning is preparing ice. At home this can come up when filling an ice tray for later.
얼음 한 개 means “one piece of ice” or “one ice cube”. 개 counts individual pieces. Use 조금 for an approximate amount and 한 개 when the number of cubes matters. 얼음물 names water served with ice; it is a drink description, not a separate word for a cube.
Where Will You See or Hear 얼음?
얼음 comes up at cafe counters, restaurant water stations and in conversations about freezers. A self-service sign containing 얼음 tells you where the ice is or how to get it. On a drink menu, the loanword 아이스 is more likely to distinguish a cold option from a hot one.
Outside the cafe, 얼음 can mean ice covering a pond or lake. It does not only mean cubes for drinks. For a slippery winter surface, 빙판 names an icy surface, while 눈 means snow. Knowing 얼음 does not make every winter-weather word interchangeable.
| Related word | Meaning | When it helps |
|---|---|---|
| 물 | water | The liquid before freezing or after melting. |
| 냉동실 | freezer | Where you make or store ice. |
| 얼음틀 | ice tray | The container used to make cubes. |
| 빙수 | shaved-ice dessert | A dessert name you may see on a cafe menu. |
The drinks vocabulary lesson connects 얼음 with water, coffee and other orders.
Quick Self-Test
- Which phrase asks for the ice separately?
- Does 얼음 빼 주세요 ask for hot coffee?
- In 얼음이 녹다, is the ice melting or causing something else to melt?
Show answers
- 얼음 따로 주세요. 따로 means separately.
- No. It asks for the ice to be omitted.
- The ice itself is melting.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you say "ice" in Korean?
Say 얼음 (eoreum).
How do you ask for ice?
얼음 주세요.
What is the difference between 얼음 and 아이스?
얼음 is the ice itself. 아이스 is the loanword used in names such as 아이스 아메리카노.
What does 얼음물 mean?
It means ice water.
Related Words and What to Learn Next
- Theme list: Food and drinks sets 얼음 beside the drinks you order it with.
- Index: Korean words A to Z.
- 눈 (snow) is spelled the same as the word for eye. See the page for eye or snow.