Learning riddles could offer some insights into the Korean language and culture. It’s a perfect match combining the mystery questions with the hint from the dictionary entry.
별중에 가장 슬픈 별은?
힌트 ： 오랫동안 만나지 못하게 떨어져 있거나 헤어짐.
대답 : ?별
I forgot where I saw the second one. It’s something as follows.
What kind of 국 Koreans does not eat?
힌트：한국 문자의 이름.
대답: ?국
As we can see from the video by Hyunwoo, it’s a great learning tool for recognizing homonyms. Another thing to do to understand a term better is to make an association by the characteristics of the word. In the video, Hyunwoo mentioned 가시 has the meaning of thorn for the rose and fish bone, which coincides with the definitions given by Krdict. It’s not totally out of the blue when you think about the word spiny and the shape of prickles.
刺 in Chinese corresponds to both meanings. 가시 refers more to the spiny fish bone. We also get a lot of clues from other related terms.
가늘다
물체의 너비가 좁거나 굵기가 얇으면서 길다.
An object having a narrow width or being thin and long.
시다
강한 빛을 받아 눈이 부시어 찔리는 듯이 아프다.
Having a pricking pain in one’s eyes due to intense light.
Do you want to challenge others with some easily guessed riddles in Korean?