Friday, December 31, 2004

What does 등골 mean?

등골 has basically two meanings. One is " the furrow of the back," and the other is "the spinal cord (marrow)." 등 means "back," and 골 can mean either "furrow" or "marrow." One needs to consider the context of the sentence to know which meaning is being referred to. In the case of idioms, however, the context can sometimes be a little vague. Therefore, I have listed the following idioms under the 등골 meaning they are referring to.

등골 (the furrow of the back)
  • 등골이 서늘하다 feel a cold shiver run down one's back (as when frightened)
    .
  • 등골이 오싹하다 feel a cold chill down one's back (as when frightened)

등골 (the spinal cord marrow)

  • 등골이 빠지다 suffer extremely; have a very hard time of it (ex. 등골이 빠지는 일 a laborious task)
    .
  • 등골을 뽑다 squeeze (wring / extort) money out of a person; exploit; fleece a person (of his money)

등골 is pronounced as / 등꼴 /

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