What does 잠자리 mean?

ANSWER: It depends. If it is pronounced /잠자리/, then it means "dragonfly," but if it is pronounced /잠짜리/, then it means "bed."

What is the Korean word for "reindeer"?

ANSWER: 순록 (馴鹿), which literally means "tamed (馴) deer (鹿)" and is pronounced /술록/, according to Korean pronunciation rules.

By the way, the Sino-Korean word for "to tame" or "to domesticate" is 순육(馴育)하다. Notice that it also uses the Chinese character 馴 (순), which again means "tame."

What's the difference between 할일없다 and 할일 없다?

 ANSWER: One means "unavoidable" or "inevitable," and the other means "have nothing to do."

할일없다, without a space, is an adjective that means "unavoidable," and 할일 없다, with a space, is a noun + adjective that means "have nothing to do." The 할일 is the noun, and the 없다 is the adjective. Since 할일 is a noun, you can use a subject marker and say 할일이 없다 instead of just 할일 없다.

However, the 할일없다, without a space, usually appears in the dictionary 하릴없다, which represents how it is pronounced. When it is pronounced, the ㄹ in 할 moves over to 일, resulting in /하릴/. Some may ask, "But wouldn't the 할일 없다, with a space, be pronounced the same as the 할일없다, without a space? The answer is, "No." 

If you want to say, "It is unavoidable," you say, /하릴없따/, but if you want to say, "I have nothing to do," you say, /할릴없따/. In other words, the difference in pronunciation is /하릴/ versus /할릴/. The reason the second one is pronounced as /할릴/ instead of /하릴/ is because a ㄴ was added to it to get 할닐, which then changes to /할릴/ because a ㄴ sound preceded by a ㄹ sound changes to a ㄹ sound.

So, if you want to say, 오늘 별로 할일 없어요 (Today, there is not much to do), be sure to pronounce the 할일 as /할릴/.

What does 춘 mean?

 ANSWER: "Spring," of course.

Every word in my Korean-English dictionary that starts with the syllable 춘, except for two (춘부장 椿府丈 / 춘사 椿事), are Sino-Korean words that start with the Chinese character that means "spring" (春). And as far as I know, there are no pure Korean words that start with 춘.  Also, there are only two other 춘 characters (椿, 杶) in my Chinese character dictionary, and they both refer to the same tree, a Toona sinensis, commonly called Chinese mahogany or Chinese cedar. So, if you see a Korean word that starts with the syllable 춘, it is almost certain to be using the 춘 (春) that means "spring."

Here are the words that start with 춘 in my Korean-English dictionary:

• 춘경 (春耕) spring plowing
• 춘경 (春景) spring scenes (scenery)
• 춘계 (春季) spring
• 춘곤 (春困) fatigue in the spring tide; languor which affects people in the spring: "spring fever"
• 춘광 (春光) spring scenes
• 춘궁 (春宮) the crown prince; the Prince Imperial
• 춘궁기 (春窮期) the farm hardship period; the season of spring poverty (shortage)
• 춘기 (春期) spring; the spring season; springtime
• 춘기 (春機) sexual desire
• 춘기발동기 (春機發動期) the age of puberty; adolescence; the period of sexual awakening
• 춘난 (春暖) spring warmth; genial (balmy) weather of spring
• 춘뢰 (春雷) spring thunder
• 춘맥 (春麥) early (spring-sown) barley
• 춘면 (春眠) drowsiness (fatigue) in the spring; sleep on a spring morning
• 춘몽 (春夢) spring dreams; a spring fantasy; an empty dream
• 춘복 (春服) clothes for spring wear; spring wear
• 춘부장 (春府丈 / 椿府丈) your (honored) father
• 춘분 (春分) the vernal (spring) equinox
• 춘사 (春思) spring sentiments (musings); feelings of spring; spring fever, thoughts of sex
• 춘사 (椿事) an accident; a mishap; a disaster
• 춘산 (春山) mountains in springtime
• 춘삼월 (春三月) March of the lunar month
• 춘색 (春色) spring scenery; the vernal beauty of nature; a sign of spring
• 춘설 (春雪) spring snow
• 춘소 (春宵) a spring evening (night)
• 춘수 (春水) spring water
• 춘수 (春愁) spring sadness; melancholy aroused in springtime
• 춘신 (春信) tidings of spring; signs of spring
• 춘심 (春心) spring sentiments; lustful desires
• 춘야 (春夜) spring night
• 춘약 (春藥) an aphrodisiac (dose); a sexual stimulant
• 춘양 (春陽) spring sunshine; the spring sun; the spring season
• 춘우 (春雨) spring rain
• 춘일 (春日) spring day
• 춘잠 (春蠶) spring silkworms
• 춘절 (春節) the spring season; springtime
• 춘정 (春情) sexual (carnal) desire; sexual urge; lust; passion
• 춘초 (春初) early spring; the beginning of spring
• 춘추 (春秋) spring and autumn; age; years
• 춘추필법 (春秋筆法) the guiding principle of Confucius in writing the Annals
• 춘파 (春播) sow in spring
• 춘풍 (春風) the spring breeze (wind)
• 춘하추동 (春夏秋冬) the four seasons; all the year around; always
• 춘한 (春寒) the lingering cold in spring
• 춘화 (春花) spring flowers
• 춘화 (春畵) an obscene picture; a pornography
• 춘화도 (春畵圖) an obscene picture; a pornography
• 춘화현상 (春化現象) vernalization
• 춘흥 (春興) the charms (pleasures) of spring; the spring fever; the lure of spring

Do Koreans pronounce 색연필 as /새견필/ or /생년필/?

ANSWER: They pronounce 색연필 as /생년필/. Why? Because they think it is easier to add an ㄴ sound to the word and say /생년필/ than attaching the ㄱ in 색 to the 연 and saying /새견필/. And /생년필/ does seem to roll off the tongue a little easier than /새견필/. By the way, 색연필 means "a colored pencil."

So, when do Koreans add a ㄴ sound to the pronunciation of their words?

First, the word has to be a Sino-Korean word, a derived word (파생어), or a compound word (합성어). A derived word is a base word with something added to it to make a new word, so, for example "salt" is the base word of "salty," which is a derived word. Or it must be a compound word, which is a word made up of two or more words, such as "sunflower."

Second, the syllable of the word just before the syllable where the ㄴ sound is added must end in a consonant, and the syllable to which the ㄴ sound is added must start with one of the following vowel sounds: 이, 야, 여, 요, or 유. That means that a ㄴ sound is not added to a syllable that starts with 아, 어, 오, 우, 으, or any of the other vowel sounds. And then after the ㄴ sound is added, you must then follow the other rules of Korean pronunciation to get the final sound of the word. So, for example, after you add a ㄴ sound to 색연필 to get 색년필, you then have to follow the rule that says that when a ㄱ is followed by a ㄴ, the ㄱ sound changes to a ㅇ sound, resulting in 색년필 being pronounced as /생년필/. So, the process for 색연필 is 색연필 to /색년필/ to /생년필/.

But sometimes Koreans permit two pronunciations for a word. For example, the Sino-Korean word 금융 (金融), which means "finance," can be pronounced as either /그뮹/ or /금늉/.

So, some of you may now be thinking. "Wow! Korean pronunciation is harder than I first thought." Why do I say that? Because that is what I am thinking.

In the linked song below, are they pronouncing 산토끼 correctly?

ANSWER: 산토끼 literally means "a mountain (산 山) rabbit (토끼)," which refers to a wild rabbit, so the 산 in 산토끼 should be pronounced with a short vowel sound since the 산 for "mountain" is pronounced with a short vowel sound. If you pronounce it with a long vowel sound /사안토끼/, then is means "a live rabbit" (산 토끼) since 살다, the word for "live" or "alive," is pronounced with a long vowel sound.

By the way, the word 산새 literally means "mountain (산) birds (새)," so the 산 in 산새 should also be pronounced with a short vowel sound. In addition, the 새 in 산새 should be pronounced as /쌔/. If you say /사안새/, it means "a live bird" (산 새), and if you just say /산새/, it means "a bought bird" (산 새). So, /산쌔/ means "a mountain bird"; /사안새/ means "a live bird"; and /산새/ means "a bought bird."
Finally, what does 새머리 mean?

ANSWER: My dictionary says it means "spareribs" and is pronounced as /새애머리/. When the 새 for "bird" is the first syllable in a word, it is pronounced with a long vowel sound. This makes me wonder how Koreans say, "bird head." Because even if they say, "새의 머리," it would probably still sound a lot like the Korean word for "spareribs" since most people are probably too lazy to pronounce 의 as /으이/ and just pronounce it as /에/.

What does 눈싸움 mean?

 ANSWER: It depends. If the 눈 is pronounced with a long vowel sound /누운/, then it means "a snow-ball fight," but if it is pronounced with a short vowel sound /눈/, then if means "a staring match."

I'm thinking about writing a book in Korean entitled "눈사람의 침입," which translates as "Invasion of the Eye People." The book will start something like this:

"그 들이 왔을 때, 눈이 내리는 중이었다. 그 후 얼마 지나지 않아 눈싸움이 시작했다. 그들은 '눈보라, 눈보라'하면서 돌아다니었다. 하지만 그들의 눈을 본 사람들이 눈 깜박한 순간에 그 자리에서 죽었다."

"When they came, it was snowing. And it was not long after that when the eye fights started. They would wander around saying, 'Look at my eyes. Look at my eyes.' But people who looked at their eyes would die on the spot as soon as they blinked."

By the way, the 눈 meaning "snow" is only pronounced with the long vowel sound /누운/ when it is the first syllable in the word. When it is not the first syllable in the word, then it is pronounced with the short vowel sound /눈/, like the 눈 for "eye." So, the 첫눈 meaning "the first sight" and the 첫눈 meaning "the first snow of the season" are both pronounced the same way, though my 1992 edition "동아" Korean dictionary says differently.