Idiom #1 – 대화 관용어
During korean lesson, we need to memorise some korean idioms. Because sometimes they come out in the TOPIK test. I want to summarize the idiom that I knew and often use in the daily conversation.
- 가슴을 치다 – very regretful feeling
- 국수를 먹다 – have a marriage
- 귀가 먹다 – cannot understand other’s saying (literally mean deaf)
- 귓등으로 듣다 – do not hear what other people said
- 눈 감아 주다 – when other people do something wrong, you act as if it were not happened
- 눈에 불을 켜다 – doing something with full concentration and very hard
- 눈코 뜰 사이 없다 – very busy
- 말꼬리를 흐리다 – cannot speak properly, mumbling in the end of words
- 머리 (고개)를 흔들다 – your head moving from right to left as a symbol of negative or reject meaning
- 목이 빠지다 – very nervous because have been waiting for a long time
- 미역국을 먹다 – in Korea, there is superstition/ myth if you eat seaweed before exam, you will fail the exam
- 바가지를 긁다 – nagging too much, usually wife to husband
- 바가지를 쓰다 – pay more because the price is higher than normal price
- 발 벗고 나서다 – throw oneself into other matter with enthusiasm more than anyone else
- 발 등에 불이 떨어지다 – something become more or very fast coming to you
- 발목 잡히다 – cannot do other things because current work is already a lot
- 배가 등에 붙다 – very hungry
- 손발이 맞다 – opinion, action, feeling, etc , all the same each other
- 손에 땀을 쥐다 – very nervous
- 손을 씻다 – leave bad things behind
- 손을 쓰다 – finding method, way to solve the problem
- 손이 빠르다 – do something fast
- 손이 크다 – generous person who give more than normal
- 얼굴이 두껍다 – do something embarrassing in the eyes of other people, but She/He did it bravely without knowing that it was embarrassing
- 엉덩이가 가볍다 (<-> 무겁다) – cannot sit for a long time
- 입이 가볍다 (<-> 무겁다) – cannot keep any secret
- 제 눈에 안경 – only looks good in your own eyes
- 주머니가 가볍다 – do not have a lot of money
- 쥐도 새도 모르게 – do not know anything about certain situation. no one knows
- 파김치가 되다 – very tired, have no strength
- 파리만 날리다 – shop which has no customer and failed to get any money
- 피도 눈물도 없다 – have no feeling at all
- 팔짱만 끼고 있다 – when facing a problem, only see without trying to solve it
- 하나를 보면 열을 안다 – just by seeing a little bit, able to know the whole story
- 하늘을 찌르다 – have an enormous strength
- 한 턱 내다 – treating someone with food
- 혀를 치다 – having a bad mood
- 꼬리를 물다 – follow one after another. something happened slowly but continuously
- 된서리를 맞다 – hitting you hard, suffer any bitter
- 그림이 떡 – no matter you like something, you cannot use or win it
- 식은 죽 먹기 – piece of cake for yourself
- 새 발에 피 – compared to bigger things, your work is nothing
- 뒷북치다 – to hear about something very late
- 두손 두발다 들다 – to give up on a person because not met your expectation
- 아직 멀었다 – still have a long way to go (project, work, distance, one’s skill)
- 놀고 있다 – to be not working at the moment. what you are doing or saying is pathetic
- 뒤통수치다 – to betray someone when they are off guard (backstabber)
- 불난 데 부채질 하다 – fan the flame, to add fuel to the fire
- 입을 모으다 – many people have the same opinion about something
- 손 놓고 있다 – to not do anything about something that is supposed to be done. implies a certain type of procrastination. not having any motivation
Actually there are more, but I will continue to summarize later 🙂
