I decided to spend today writing some more article on hanja. I’m in a real hanja mood it seems. The next hanja is 國 [국] which is the third hanja of four hanja we need to write the official name of Korea in hanja. This is a rather important character so let’s give it a go.
Hanja #37: 國 – 나라 국
國 [국] is the character that represents ‘country’. So as you can imagine a lot of things to do with countries, like the name of countries, nationalities and such tend to incorporate this little hanja. In fact this hanja is part of the normal word for Korea 한국 [韓國], as is it part of the longer official name. So as you can imagine in is a rather useful hanja to know.
Please keep in mind that many Korean words for countries around the world do not use this hanja. The spelling of their names are oftentimes based on various languages such as English and others.
If you happen to know any other word you think has this hanja, let us know in the comments.
Our 國 Vocabulary List
*Meanings written in italics are the meanings when you use the noun as a 하다 verb.
| 한국어 | Meaning | 한자어 |
|---|---|---|
| 소국 | Minor country, a minor power | 小國 |
| 모국 | Motherland, fatherland, homeland, native land | 母國 |
| 한국 | Korea, South-Korea | 韓國 |
| 중국 | China | 中國 |
| 국군 | Nation’s armed forces | 國軍 |
| 국왕 | King, Queen, Monarch, Sovereign | 國王 |
| 왕국 | Kingdom | 王國 |
| 국교 | State religion | 國敎 |
| 국민 | The people, the public, the nation | 國民 |
| 민국 | Republic | 民國 |
| 국토 | Territory (of a country) | 國土 |
| 국학 | Study of national heritage | 國學 |
| 외국 | Foreign country | 外國 |
| 국외 | Outside the country | 國外 |
| 한국인 | Korean (person) | 韓國人 |
| 중국인 | Chinese (person) | 中國人 |
| 외국인 | Foreigner | 外國人 |
| 국민연금 | National Pension | 國民年金 |
| 대한민국 | Republic of Korea | 大韓民國 |
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