What does "bulgogi" (불고기) literally mean?

ANSWER: probably "red (불) meat (고기)"

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines "bulgogi" (불고기) as follows:

a Korean dish of thinly sliced, marinated beef that is grilled or panfried

So, Merriam Webster says bulgogi is made from "beef," and there are Korean dictionaries that say the same thing. My Korean-Korean dictionary does not specify "beef," but says bulgogi is made from 살코기, which my Korean-English dictionary defines as "lean (red) meat." Though "red meat" often implies beef, Wikipedia says that "adult or gamey mammals" are also considered "red meat," such as horse meat, mutton, venison, boar, and hare. Wikipedia also says that most poultry and young mammals--such as rabbit, veal, and lamb--are "white meat."

Many sources, including Wikipedia, claim bulgogi (불고기) literally means "fire meat," implying "roasted meat," but it seems the only reason they claim that is because 불 is the pure Korean word for "fire." However, 불 is also a pure Korean suffix that means "red."

Here are some Korean words that use 불 to mean "red":

• 불개미 red ants
• 불거리 red sunrise (used in North Korea)
• 불거지 red sunset (used in North Korea)
• 불겅이 reddish object, a fresh red pepper, reddish pipe tobacco
• 불곰 brown bear, sometimes called a grizzly bears  (has reddish brown fur)
• 불그데데하다 be reddish
• 불그레하다 be reddish, be tinged with red
• 불그스름하다 be a little reddish
• 불그죽죽하다 be somberly reddish
• 불긋 불긋 with red spots
• 불물 rusty water (used in North Korea)
• 불암소 a reddish female cow or heifer
• 불여우 red fox
• 불콩 a red bean

One problem with claiming that 불고기 means "fire meat" or "roasted meat" is that the Korean language already has a word that means "roasted meat," and that word is 고기구이. The pure Korean suffix "-구이" comes from the pure Korean verb 굽다, which means "to roast," and there is a long list of words that use the suffix 구이, including the following:

• 가리비구이 grilled or roasted scallops (not 불가리비)
• 가자미구이 grilled or roasted halibut (not 불가자미)
• 고등어구이 grilled or roasted mackerel (not 불고등어)
• 곱창구이 grilled or roasted pork or cow intestines (not 불곱창)
• 닭구이 grilled or roasted chicken (not 불닭 to mean roasted chicken)
• 돼지구이 grilled or roasted pork (not 불돼지)
• 버섯구이 grilled or roasted mushrooms (not 불버석)
• 두부구이 grilled or roasted tofu (not 불두부)
• 삼치구이 grilled or roasted Japanese seerfish (not 불삼치)
• 새우구이 grilled or roasted shrimp (not 불새우)
• 생선구이 grilled or roasted fish (not 불생선)
• 생치구이 grilled or roasted pheasant (not 불생치)
• 석화구이 grilled roasted clams (not 불석화)
• 양구이 grilled or roasted sheep (not 불양)
• 장어구이 grilled or roasted eel (not 불장어)
• 전복구이 grilled or roasted abalone (not 불전복)
• 조개구이 grilled or roasted oysters (not 불조개)
• 조기구이 grilled or roasted croaker (not 불조기)

So, the pure Korean word for "roasted" seems to be 구이, not 불. And that strongly suggests that the 불 in 불고기 did not originally mean "fire" or "roasted," but rather "red." That would explain why Koreans think of "beef" (red meat) when they hear the word 불고기, not of some other meat, such as fish or chicken.

The first time the word 불고기 appeared in print was in a 1922 Korean novel entitled "墮落者 (타락자), in which the angry face of a man named 궐 was described as looking like "a lump of red meat placed on top of a blazing charcoal fire" (궐의 얼굴은 마치 이글이글 타는 숯불 위에 놓여 있는 불고기 덩이 같았다.)

Since a man's face turns red when he is angry, it makes more sense that the face of the man in the 1922 novel was described as "a lump of red meat" (불고기 덩이) cooking on a fire instead of as "a lump of roasted (fire) meat" cooking on a fire.

A "red meat" translation also makes more sense since "chicken" (닭고기) and "fish" (물고기) can also be "roasted meat," but I have never heard or read a description of an angry man's face looking like "a piece of chicken."

These days Koreans attach the word 불 (fire) to certain foods to mean "hot and spicy," such as 불닭 (hot and spicy chicken), but that is different from "roasted."