ANSWER: One wears a red skirt, and the other a green one.
The Sino-Korean word 청상 (靑裳), with 裳 (상), literally means "green (靑) skirt (裳)," and the Sino-Korean word 청상 (靑孀), with 孀 (상), literally means "green (靑) widow (孀)," which refers to a woman who became a widow at a young age. So, since the words for "green skirt" (靑裳 청상) and "young widow" (靑孀) are pronounced the same, "a young widow" was associated with "a green skirt." By the way, the expression 청상과부 (靑孀寡婦) literally means "a young widow (靑孀) widow (寡婦)," which clarifies that the 청상 in the expression is referring to "a green widow," not to "a green skirt," and that, again, suggests that there was some confusion between the words for "green widow" and "green skirt." And "a green skirt" was also associated with young women in general who were not virgins, such as prostitutes or kisaeng (기생 妓生).
The Sino-Korean word 홍상 (紅裳) literally means "red (紅) skirt (裳)," which for some reason (wink, wink), is associated with virgins in Korea. The Sino-Korean expression 녹의홍상 (綠衣紅裳) literally means "green jacket (綠衣), red skirt (紅裳)," and that refers to the traditional dress for young (virgin) women in Korea, which was a green jacket worn with a red skirt. Besides meaning "clothes" in general, the Chinese character 衣 (의) can also mean "jacket" (웃옷).
So, "green skirts" (청상 靑裳) were associated with "young widows," and "red skirts" (홍상 紅裳) with "young virgin women."
The Sino-Korean expression 동가홍상 (同價紅裳) literally means "[for] the same (同) price (價), [choose] the red (紅) skirt (裳)," which suggests that if a man has a choice between marrying a young widow or a young virgin, he should choose the virgin. However, Koreans these days usually use it to mean: "If two things cost the same, buy the one of better quality." And instead of saying 동가홍상 (同價紅裳), Koreans these days usually say, "같은 값이면 다홍지마," which translates as "[if] the same price," [choose] the deep red (다홍 多紅) skirt (지마)."
The pure-Korean word 위 means "up" or "top," and the pure-Korean word 아래 means "down" or "bottom," so the word 위아래 can mean either "up and down" or "top and bottom." The words 위 and 아래 need each other to have any real meaning because they need the contrast that each gives to other. In other words, without an "up" (위), there is no "down" (아래), and without a "top" (위), there is no "bottom." So, when you see a word that uses 위, you can expect that there is a contrasting word that uses 아래.
When Koreans want to create a word that uses the meaning of 윗 without also creating a contrasting word that uses the meaning of 아래, then they use the suffix 웃 instead of 윗 since 웃 does not imply there is a contrasting word that uses the meaning of 아래. In fact, 웃 implies there is no contrasting word that includes the meaning of 아래. So, the word 웃어른 implies there is no such word as 아랫어른. And 웃국 implies there is no such word as 아랫국.
The word 웃어른 literally means "upper (웃) adults (어른)," which translates as "one's elders," and "elders" are adults who are much older than oneself. So, since there is no word that means "lower (아랫) adults (어른)," Koreans use the word 웃어른 instead of 윗어른.
In the above definition, noticed that below the definition for 웃어른, there is a definition for 웃옷. The word 웃옷 is used to refer only to "an outer garment" or "a coat," not to "an upper garment," so the second part of the 웃옷 definition is wrong. For "upper garment," you must say 윗옷 because there is the contrasting word 아래옷, which means "lower garment."
Actually, it seems that Koreans are still trying to figure out when to use 윗 and when to use 웃. For example, my 1998 Donga's Prime Korean-English Dictionary lists both 웃물 and 윗물, but my 2014 Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary lists only 윗물, probably because they have learned that 웃물 would imply there is no 아랫물, but since there is an 아랫물, 윗물 should be used instead of 웃물.
So, just remember this: When there is a 윗, there is also an 아래 or 아랫, but when there is an 웃, there is no 아래 or 아랫, at least there shouldn't be. But some Koreans and even some Korean dictionaries still need time to catch up.
In Korea, the Chinese character 率 (률/율) can be written as either 률 or 율, depending on what word precedes it, and it can translate as "rate," "ratio," "proportion," or "percentage," also depending on what word precedes it. If the word that precedes 率 (률/율) ends in a vowel or the consonant ㄴ, then it is written as /율/, as in 비율 (比率), which can translate as "ratio," "rate" or "percentage," or as in 환율 (換率), which means "exchange rate." But if the word that precedes 率 (률/율) ends with any other consonant instead of ㄴ, then it is written as 률, as in 보험률 (保險率), which means "insurance rate"; 성장률 (成長率), which means "growth rate"; or 능률 (能率), which means "efficiency."
The above rules apply not only to the Chinese character 率 (률/율) but also to any Chinese character that can be written as either 률 or 율. So, for example, the Chinese character 律 (률/율), which can translate as "a law," "a regulation," or "commandments," is also written as either 률 or 율 depending on what word precedes it. 도덕률 (道德律), for example, can translate as "moral code," and 자연율 (自然律) can translate as "the natural law."
The Chinese character 慄 (률/율) means "fear" and can also be written as either 률 or 율, depending on what word precedes it. For example, the Sino-Korean word for "to shudder or to tremble is fear" is 전율 (戰慄), which includes 慄 (률/율), the character for "fear." The reason 전율 is written as "전율" instead of "전률" is that its first syllable 전 ends in a ㄴ, so 전율 also follows the spelling rules mentioned above. By the way, besides meaning "war," the Chinese character 戰 (전) can also mean "to tremble," so the word 전율 (戰慄) can literally translate as "to tremble (戰) in fear (慄)" or "a trembling fear."
ANSWER: Yes. Since 2017, the National Institute of Korean Language has claimed that 찻집 is a pure Korean word. That means that they consider 찻집 to be the pure-Korean equivalent of the Sino-Korean word 다방 (茶房), which means "teahouse" or "tearoom." And that suggests that they also consider the correct pronunciation of the Chinese character 茶 to be just /다/, not both /다/ and /차/.
My 2014 edition Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary, however, was published before the National Institute of Korean Language changed its mind on 찻집 and, therefore, lists 찻집 as a combination of the Chinese character for "tea" (茶) and the pure Korean word for "house" (집). That means that Minjung needs to update not only its definition of 찻집 (teahouse) but also its definitions of 찻감 (stuff to make tea out of), 찻물 (tea), 찻숟가락 (teaspoon), 찻잎 (tea leaves), 찻장 (a tea cabinet), and 찻종 (a teacup, a tea bowl) by removing the Chinese character 茶 that appears in the parentheses next to those words. So, the listing for 찻집 should be just "찻집," without parentheses, not "찻집 (茶 --)."
2014 edition of Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary
By the way, there are only six 2-syllable Sino-Korean words that are officially allowed to use 사이시옷 in their spellings. A 사이시옷 is a ㅅ that is sometimes added to a syllable of a compound word to show that the last syllable of that compound word is pronounced differently than its spelling. Normally, the compound words that use 사이시옷s have to be either pure-Korean compound words or a combination of a pure-Korean word and a Chinese character. The six Sino-Korean words below are the only exceptions to that rule:
곳간 (庫間) a storeroom, a warehouse
셋방 (貰房) a room for rent, a rented room
숫자 (數字) a figure, a numeral
찻간 (車間) the inside of a train car, a railway carriage
툇간 (退間) the wooden floor verandah attached to a traditional Korean house
횟수 (回數) the number of times (something is done), frequency
Notice the 찻찬 (茶盞), 찻장 (茶欌), and 찻종 (茶鍾) that are shown in the above photo from my Essence dictionary are not in the above list. If the 찻 in those words was really a Chinese character, then the 사이시옷 in those words would not have been allowed in their spellings since they would have then been considered Sino-Korean words and, therefore, not allowed to use the 사이시옷 in their spellings. But since the 사이시옷 was and is allowed in the spellings of those words, that is evidence that the 찻 in those words is really a pure-Korean word, not a Chinese character.
ANSWER: One means "marriageable age," and the other means "past the marriageable age."
The 瓜 (과) in 과년 (瓜年) can mean "melon," "gourd," or "cucumber," depending on which Chinese characters are used with it. For example, the Sino-Korean word for "cucumber" is 호과 (胡瓜), which can literally translate as "barbarian (胡) melon (瓜)," and the Sino-Korean word for "watermelon" is 서과 (西瓜)," which literally translates as "Western (西) melon (瓜)." So, since the Chinese character 年 (년) means "year," the word 과년 (瓜年) literally means "melon (瓜) year (年)." But what was the "melon year" (瓜年)?
The "melon year" (과년 瓜年) was the year a girl turned 16 years old, which used to be considered a good age for a girl to get married. But why would "melon year" (瓜年) mean "16 years old"?
Because the word "melon year" (과년) comes from the phrase 파과지년 (破瓜之年), which literally translates as "the year [a girl] breaks [her] melon," and that refers to "puberty." The Chinese character 破 (파) means "to break," so 파과 (破瓜) literally means "to break (破) a melon (瓜)," which in China can also mean "[for a girl)] to lose [her] virginity." So, in China, it seems they break melons instead of cherries.
Anyway, since the Chinese character for "melon" (瓜) looks similar to the Chinese character for "eight" (八)," when you "break a melon" (破瓜) in half, you essentially have "two (이 二) melons (과 瓜)," which look similar to "two (이 二) eights (팔 八))," or 이팔 (二八), and that means "sixteen" (8 + 8).
"The year [a man] breaks [his] melon" (파과지년 破瓜之年) is the year he turns "sixty-four." Because for men, you multiply (八 x 八) instead of add (八 + 八). I do not know exactly what happens when a man "breaks [his] melon" (破瓜), but it may have something to do with sex. Maybe, in the past, when men turned 64 (八 + 八) in China and Korea, people thought they started to lose their desire "to have sex." So, when referring to men, maybe we should translate 파과지년 (破瓜之年) as "the year [a man] breaks [his] cucumber" instead of "the year [a man] breaks [his] melon"?
As for the word 과년 (過年), since the Chinese character 過 (과) means "to pass" and the character 年 (년) can also mean "age," the word 과년 (過年) literally means "past (過) the age (年) [to get married]." These days, when Koreans say, 과년한 처녀," they usually mean "an old maid" (過年한 처녀) instead of "a sweet 16-year-old virgin" (瓜年한 처녀).
ANSWER: Well, according to my 1998 edition Dong-a's Prime Korean-English Dictionary, it means: "a (hand) bill; a leaflet; a placard (poster)." However, my 2014 Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary" does not even list 삐라, even though my Prime dictionary shows that it was a very popular word in 1998. I wonder why my newer 2014 Essence dictionary does not list it.
1998 Dong-a's Korean-English Dictionary
2014 Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary
Maybe, the people who compiled my 2014 Essence dictionary decided that 삐라 was not an appropriate Korean word since it was originally a Japanese pronunciation of the English word "bill," as in the word "handbill" (a leaflet).
Moreover, even though my 1998 Prime dictionary defines 삐라 as "a (hand) bill" or "leaflet," it should really only be used to refer to "seditious (불온) propaganda (선전) leaflets (전단)" from places like North Korea and not to "advertising leaflets," even though my 1998 Dong-a dictionary shows it can be used in that way: "광고 삐라."
To refer to regular "advertising leaflets," instead of 광고 삐라, it would be better to use phrases like 광고 쪽지 or 광고 전단, which are listed in my 2014 Essence dictionary.
Though the word 삐라 may have been popular in 1998, it seems that it is no longer fashionable, at least when referring to advertising leaflets. If you want to use 삐라 to refer to North Korean "propaganda leaflets," then it is probably still acceptable, but you should avoid using it to talk about "advertising leaflets." Instead, use phrases like 광고 쪽지 or 광고 전단.
ANSWER: 갱신 (更新) means "to renew," which suggests "extension," and 경신 (更新) means "to revise," which suggests "change." So, 갱신하다 is used when talking about "renewing" one's passport or driver's license, and 경신하다 is used when talking about breaking world records in sports or production records in manufacturing, which means those records are changed or "revised."
One of the interesting things about the two Sino-Korean words 갱신 (更新) and 경신 (更新) is that they both use the same Chinese characters. When the Chinese character 更 is pronounced as /갱/, it means "anew" or "again," but when it is pronounced as /경/, it means "to change" or "to alter." So, since the Chinese character 新 (신) means "new," the word 갱신 (更新) literally means "renew," and 경신 (更新) literally means "to change to (更) a new one (新)."
In the following definition of the Chinese character 更 (갱/경), notice that 갱신 (更新) is mentioned but not 경신 (更新). Also, notice that 갱신 is defined as "renewal" or "renovation," which could be suggesting that 갱신 can be used to mean both "to renew" (a driver's license) and "to revise" (a world record). In fact, when I looked up 경신 in my 2014 edition Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary, it was defined as "renewal" and then listed a reference to the word 갱신, which seemed to suggest that 경신 and 갱신 mean the same thing. In other words, my Essence dictionary is saying that 갱신 can be used both when talking about when renewing driver's licenses and breaking world sport's records.
By the way, I wonder if the word 갱신 (갱신) originally came about after people from certain regions of Korea started mispronouncing 경신 (更新). /갱/, for some reason, sounds like it might be a dialectical pronunciation.
A Guide to Chinese Characters: Reading and Writing Hangul and Hanja (1982)
Minjung' Essence Korean-English Dictionary (2014)
In addition, my 1998 edition Dong-a's Prime Korean-English Dictionary seems to have gotten the meanings of 갱신 and 경신 mixed up, saying that 갱신 is used when talking about breaking world sport's records, and 경신 is used when talking about renewing driver's licenses, which is backwards from the way they are supposed to be used.
Dong-a's Prime Korean-English Dictionary (1998)
So, whom should one believe in regard to the meanings or 갱신 and 경신? Well, I believe the "Modern Girl," the girl who made the video below, and the Modern Girl's simple "hack" (꿀팁) for remembering the difference between 갱신 and 경신 is this:
계약을 갱신하다 (renew a contract).
기록을 경신하다 (break a record).
In regard to "contracts," however, the Modern Girl does point out that sometimes they are "renewed" (갱신) and sometimes they are "revised" (경신), which means that sometimes we might say, "계약을 갱신하다" (renew a contract), and sometimes we might say, "계약을 경신하다" (revise a contract).
ANSWER: Apparently, both 소고기 and 쇠고기 are now acceptable.
In Korea, 소 means "cow," and 고기 means "meat," but I had learned sometime in the late 70s or early 80s that the correct way to say "beef" in Korean was 쇠고기, not 소고기. Why? Because 쇠 is supposedly an abbreviation of 소의, which is 소 plus the possessive marker 의, so 쇠고기 literally means "cow's (소의) meat (고기)." Yet, when I was in Korea, many Koreans were saying 소고기 instead of 쇠고기. When that would happen, I would think to myself, "Wow! This Korean is poorly educated." Well, maybe those Koreans were not so poorly educated after all."
Even though 쇠고기 may have traditionally been the correct way to say "beef" in Korean, I have recently learned that since 1988, both 쇠고기 and 소고기 are considered correct, even though only 쇠고기 is listed in my Korean-English dictionary. In fact, it seems that now either 쇠 or 소 can be used to refer to almost anything related to cows. If you want to say "cow dung" in Korean, for example, you can apparently now say either 쇠똥 or 소똥, even though only 쇠똥 is listed in my dictionaries. And if you want to say "ghost of a cow" in Korean, in addition to "쇠귀신" (--鬼神), 소귀신 is probably now also acceptable, even though 소귀신 is not in my dictionaries.
By the way, be careful when ordering 우신탕 because 우신탕 can mean either "cow-ghost stew (牛神湯)," "cow-penis stew (牛腎湯)," or "spicy beef stew" (牛辛湯)." In the video below, they are apparently preparing "cow-ghost stew" (牛神湯 신우탕), which is stew that stupid people eat.
If you watch the video below on YouTube, you can see that the caption for the video reads as follows: "두거리 우신탕! 우신탕 당진점 - 해장하기 좋고 맛있는 국밥 (Woo Shintang (Korean beef soup), 牛神湯, 牛心汤)."
Both 벌리다 and 벌이다 can mean "to open," but 벌리다 is used in the sense of "spreading something open," like one's mouth or one's legs, while 벌이다 is used in the sense of "to open or start [a business]." The 벌 is both 벌리다 and 벌이다 is pronounced with a long vowel sound, so 벌리다 is pronounced as /버얼리다/, and 벌이다 is pronounced as /버어리다/.
Since 벌리다 and 벌이다 are so similar, Koreans sometimes confuse them, including the Koreans who compiled and edited my 1998 edition of Dong-a's Prime Korean-English Dictionary, where they used the following example sentence under the word 벌리다:
그는 식료품 가계를 벌렸다 (He opened a grocery store).
Yet, in the same dictionary, there is the following example sentence under the word 벌이다:
가계을 벌이다 (Open a store).
So, in 1998, even Koreans who were compiling dictionaries were confusing the words 벌리다 and 벌이다.
1998 Edition of Dong-a's Prime Korean-English Dictionary
Also, notice in the above dictionary that under the definition for 벌리다, they included the meaning "[늘어놓다] to lay out; arrange; spread; display"; even though that is actually the definition for 벌이다. So, no wonder Koreans were confusing 벌리다 and 벌이다 back in 1998. However, that mistake seems to have been corrected by 2014.
In my 2014 edition of Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary, the meanings of 벌리다 and 벌이다 seem to have been defined correctly.
2014 Edition of Minjung's Essence Korean-English Dictionary
매우 크다 means "very big," and 매우 작다 means "very small," but even though one can use 굉장히 크가 to mean, "very big," one cannot use 굉장히 작다 to mean, "very small." Why not?
Because 굉장히 is normally used in colloquial speech to describe big or magnificent things, not small or petty things. Also, it is normally used to describe positive things rather than negative things, so, "굉장히 좋다" (very good) makes more sense than "굉장히 나쁘다" (very bad).
ANSWER: Koreans say that 이슬비 is rain that means "Stay (있으라)!" and 가랑비 is rain that means "Go (가라)!" Even though 이슬비 and 가랑비 can both be translated in English as "drizzle," Koreans think of 이슬비 as "a light drizzle," like "dewdrops" (이슬), and 가랑비 as "a heavy drizzle," which would mean that "a light drizzle" tells someone to stay, and "a heavy drizzle" tells someone to go. That would make sense only if "a heavy drizzle" is a sign that "a heavy rain (큰비)" is coming and that one should get home before it starts. The only drizzle lighter than 이슬비 would be 안개비 (misty drizzle).
When you are visiting a Korean's home and it starts to drizzle, if the host describes the drizzle as 가랑비, then he or she might be suggesting that you go (가라), but if the host describes it as "이슬비," then he or she might be suggesting that you to stay (있으라) longer. Or the host might not be suggesting anything at all. Jokingly, you could ask, "'가랑비'? Are you telling me to go?"
By the way, 보슬비 can also be translated as "drizzle" but seems to refer to "a quiet, gentle drizzle," one that comes without any wind.
ANSWER: It means "trivial, "insignificant," "small," or "petty."
The Chinese character 些 (사) in 사소 (些少) means "a few," "some," or "a little," so since the 少 in the word also means "few," the Sino-Korean word 사소 (些少) literally means "some (些) few (少)," which is pretty "trivial."
So what?
So, even though the character 些 (사) is not used that often in Korea, it is used in China with other characters to form some comparatives and other words.
一 (일) means "one," and 一些 (일사) literally means "a few more than one," so the Chinese meaning of 一些 is "some."
大 (대) means "big," and 大些 (대사) literally means "a little bigger," so the Chinese meaning of 大些 is "bigger."
早 (조) means "early," and 早些 (조사) literally means "a little earlier," so the Chinese meaning of 早些 is "earlier."
快 (쾌) can mean "quick," and 快些 (쾌사) literally means "a little quicker," so the Chinese meaning of 快些 is "quicker."
遲 (지) means "late," and 遲些 (지사) literally means "a little later," so the Chinese meaning of 遲些 is "later."
Also, the Chinese word for "this" is 這 (저), and the word for "that" is 那 (나). So, if you add 些 (사) to 這 (저), you get 這些 (저사), which means "these." And if you add 些 (사) to 那 (나), you get 那些 (나사), which means "those."
Some may still ask, "So what?" and that's okay. Why is it okay? Because I'm still a rock star.
ANSWER: Yes.
Is America now in a cultural revolution? Is Donald Trump a wannabe Chairman Mao? And are red hats just a substitute for "red scarves"? Those are just a few questions I will leave for others to answer.
Below is the Korean translation of the prologue for the book "Red Scarf Girl." And in the video below, the author of the book reads the prologue in English.
Link to the book Red Scarf Girl on Amazon
------------------------------
"1966년, 가장 행복한 아이"
나는 음력으로 새해 첫날인 설날에 태어났다. 행운과 아름답다는 뜻이 담긴 '지리' 라는 이름, 두 분은 내가 세상에서 가장 행복한 아이가 되길 소망했다. 그리고 나는 정말 그런 아이가 되었다.
나는 항상 주변 사람들로부터 사랑과 존중을 받았기 때문에 당연히 행복했다. 더불어 내겐 발전 가능성이 있고 반드시 성공할 거라는 그 분들의 기대는 내게 무한한 자신감과 자부심을 불어넣어 주었다. 나는 빛나는 미래를 한 번도 의심한 적이 없었다.
또한 나는 내가 배운 것을 한 번도 의심하지 않았다.
"하늘과 땅은 광대하다. 그러나 공산당의 친절함은 그보다 훨씬 광대하다."
"아버지와 어머니는 소중하다. 그러나 마오 주석은 그보다 더욱 소중하다."
운명적인 1966년이 다가오기 전까지, 나는 공산 소년소녀단임을 알리는 붉은 스카프를 목에 두르고, 또한 기쁨으로 터져 버릴 것만 같은 가슴을 안고 매일 무언가를 이루며 성장해 갔다.
ANSWER: One means 60 years old, and the other means Korean-age 60 years old, which is really 59 years old.
The Chinese character 歲 (세) is the same 세 used in the Sino-Korean word 연세 (年歲), which means "age" or "years of age." When Koreans say "60세," they are referring to the Korean style of counting "years of age," which means an extra year is added because when Koreans are born, they are already considered to be 1 year old. In the United States, we are 1 year old only after one year of being born. So, 60세 would mean "59 years old" in countries like the United States. When Koreans want to refer to 60 years old in the Western way, they say, "만 60세." The Chinese character 滿 (만) means "full," so 만 60세 literally means "a full 60 years old."
In Korea, the word 환갑 (還甲) refers to "one's 60th birthday anniversary." But does "60th birthday" means "60세" or "만 60세"? In other words, does 환갑 refer to Korean-age 60 or Western-age 60?
ANSWER:It refers to Western-age 60 ("만 60세), which again means that it is referring to "a full 60 years old." I will explain why below.
Why does 환갑 refer to "a full 60 years old" (만 60세) instead of a "Korean 60 years old" (60세)? Because 환갑 (還甲) literally means "returning to (還) 갑 (甲)," and 갑 (甲) is referring to the first of ten "heavenly stems" (천간 天干) in the "sexagenary cycle" (육십갑자 六十甲子), which counts years in 60-year cycles by combining, in sequence, one of ten "heavenly stems" (천간 天干) with one of twelve "earthly branches" (지지 地支). A "heavenly stem" is the first character in the 2-character combination, and an "earthly branch" is the second character. If you multiply 10 (heavenly stems) by 12 (earthly branches), you get 120, which means one could make 120 different 2-character combinations out of the 10 heavenly steams and 12 earthly branches, but since a "heavenly-stem" character can only appear as the first character in the 2-character combinations and an "earthly-branch" character as the second in the combinations, we have to divide the 120 by 2, which gives us only 60 possible unique character combinations for the different year names in a 60-year cycle.
The first year in a 60-year cycle is called 갑자 (甲子), which combines the "heavenly stem" 甲 (갑) with the "earthly branch" 子 (자), so instead of saying "환갑" (還甲), it would be more accurate to say "환갑자" (還甲子) since you "return to" (還) a 갑 (甲) year on year 11 (갑술 甲戌), year 21 (갑신 甲申), year 31 (갑오 甲午), year 41 (갑진 甲辰), and year 51 (갑인 甲寅) before returning to year 1 of a new 60-year cycle. However, you "return to" (환 還) a 갑자 (甲子) combination only on year 1 of a new 60-year cycle, and that means that 환갑 (還甲) is referring to a "full" (만 滿) 60-year cycle. And that means that each year in a 60-year cycle will have its own unique name.
Below is a chart showing the 10 "heavenly stems" (천간) above the 12 "earthly branches" (지지). The name of the first year of the 60-year cycle is a pairing up of the first "heavenly stem" (甲 갑) with the first "earthly branch" (子 자), so 甲子 (갑자); and the name of the second year is a pairing up of the second "heavenly stem" (乙 을) with the second "earthly branch" (丑 축), so 乙丑 (을축); and so-on through year 10, after which we run out of "heavenly stems" and must return to the beginning of the "heavenly stems" to continue the pairing, so the name of the 11th year in the 60-year cycle is a pairing of the first "heavenly stem" (甲 갑) with the 11th "earthly branch" (戌 술) to form 甲戌 (갑술). And then continuing in sequence, the name of the 12th year in the 60-year cycle is a pairing of the second "heavenly stem" (乙 을) with the 12th earthly stem (亥 해) to form 乙亥 (을해). After that, there are no more "earthly branches," so we must start repeating the "earthly branches" to continue naming the remaining years of the 60-year cycle. That means that the name of the 13th year in the 60-year cycle is a pairing of the 3rd "heavenly stem" (丙 병) with the 1st "earthly branch" (子 자) to form 丙子 (병자), and this kind of sequential pairing continues until there is a name for all 60 years in a cycle, after which the first "heavenly stem" (甲 갑) and the first "earthly branch" (子 자) finally meet again to form 甲子 (갑자), the first year of a new 60-year cycle.
Heavenly Stems 십간
甲 갑
乙 을
丙 병
丁 정
戊 무
己 기
庚 경
辛 신
壬 임
癸 계
甲 갑
乙 을
Earthly Branches 십이지
子 자
rat
丑 축 ox
寅 인 tiger
卯 묘 rabbit
辰 진 dragon
巳 사 snake
午 오 horse
未 미 goat
申 신 monkey
酉 유 rooster
戌 술 dog
亥 해 pig
Year Names
1 甲子 갑자
2 乙丑 을축
3 丙寅 병인
4 丁卯 정묘
5 戊辰 무진
6 己巳 기사
7 庚午 경오
8 辛未 신미
9 壬申 임신
10 癸酉 계유
11 甲戌 갑술
12 乙亥 을해
By the way, each of the "earthly branches" are associated with an animal, so since the "earthly branch" 子 (자) is associated with a "rat," any year that ends with the character 子 is called "the year of the rat." If the name of a year ends with 丑 (축), which is associated with an "ox," then the year would be called "the year of the ox," and so on. And since 子 (자) will appear at the end of a year name 5 times in one 60-year cycle, there will be five "years of the rat" in one 60-year cycle, and there will be five years for each of the other animals, as well.
So, finally, someone celebrating 환갑 (還甲) would be "a full 60 years old" (만 60세), which means he or she would be 61 (61세) Korean age.
