Lesson 22
Word Builder lessons are designed to help you understand how to expand your vocabulary by learning/understanding some common and basic building blocks of Korean words. The words and letters introduced through Word Builder lessons are not necessarily all Chinese characters, or 한자. Though many of them are based on Chinese characters, the meanings can be different from modern-day Chinese. Your goal, through these lessons, is to understand how words are formed and remember the keywords in Korean to expand your Korean vocabulary from there. You certainly don’t have to memorize the Hanja characters, but if you want to, feel free!
Today’s keyword is 무.
These Chinese character for this is 無.
The word 무 is related to “none”, “nothing”, and “non-existence”.
무 (none) + 공해 (pollution) = 무공해無公害 = pollution-free, clean
무 (none) + 료 (fee) = 무료無料 = free of charge
무 (none) + 시 (to see) = 무시無視 = to overlook, to neglect, to disregard
무 (none) + 책임 (responsibility) = 무책임無責任 = irresponsibility
무 (none) + 조건 (condition) = 무조건無條件 = unconditionally
무 (none) + 죄 (sin, guilt) = 무죄無罪 = innocent, not guilty
무 (none) + 능력 (ability) = 무능력無能力 = incapability, incompetence
무 (none) + 한 (limit) = 무한無限 [mu-han] = infinite, limitless
무 (none) + 적 (enemy) = 무적無敵 = unbeatable, invincible
무 (none) + 사고 (accident) = 무사고無事故 = no accident
무 (none) + 관심 (interest) = 무관심無關心 = indifference, showing no interest
무 (none) + 명 (name) = 무명無名 = not popular, unknown
무 (none) + 인 (person) = 무인無人= unmanned, uninhabited