황 means "yellow," and 새 "bird," so what color is a 황새?

 ANSWER: white (with a little black)

황새 is the Korean word for stork, which is a big white bird, so the 황 in 황새 does not mean yellow. 황새 was originally pronounced 한새, which literally means big (한) bird (새). It is the same 한 used in the Korean word 한숨, which literally means big (한) breath (숨) or a deep sigh. Though Koreans still say 한숨, over time the pronunciation of 한새 changed to 황새. The same thing happened to the Korean word for bull (황소), which was originally 한소 (big cow).

한- is a pure Korean prefix with different meanings, and one of its meanings is big. Here are a few pure Korean words in which the 한 in the word means big:

• 한가위 - is another name for chuseok (추석 秋夕), a big fall festival on the day/night of the full moon in the eighth lunar month. The lunar calendar starts with the first month of spring, so the eighth month would be the second month of autumn. Besides 추석 and 한가위, you can also say 추석날 or 한가윗날. I am not sure what 가위 means, but 추석 ( 秋夕) literally means fall (秋) night (夕). The pure Korean for fall night is 가을 밤, so I wonder if 가위 was originally 가을. In fact, there is the pure Korean word 한가을, which literally means at the height (한) of autumn (가을) because another meaning of the prefix 한 is the height, the summit, the zenith, or the peak (한창의). The eight month of the lunar calendar would be the peak of autumn, so maybe that is also the literally meaning of 한가위.
   
• 한걱정 - big worry (trouble)
   
• 한근심 - a big worry, a great anxiety
   
• 한길 - a main street (road)
   
• 한동안 - (for) quite a while
   
• 한밑천 - a large amount of capital
   
• 한바탕 - a big (wrestling) bout or event
   
• 한사리 - spring tide (a tide just after a new or full moon when there is the greatest difference between high and low tide
   
• 한숨 - big breath or deep sigh
   
  
• 한턱 - a big treat. (The 한 is 한턱 means big, not one.)