Lesson 13
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 [han-ja], 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 신.
The Chinese character for this is 新. There are many other Chinese characters (or Hanja letters) that are used for 신, so keep in mind that not all the words that have 신 in them have related meanings.
The word 신 (新) is related to “new”.
신제품 = 신 (new) + 제 (make) + 품 (item) = 新製品 = new product
신기록 = 신 (new) + 기록 (record) =新記錄 = new record
신학기 = 신 (new) + 학 (learn, school) + 기 (period) = 新學期 = new semester 신인 = 신 (new) + 인 (person) = 新人 = rookie
신작 = 신 (new) + 작 (make) = 新作 = new movie/book/musical/etc
신혼 = 신 (new) +혼 (marriage) = 新婚 = newly wed, the first few years of married life
갱신 = 갱 (alter) + 신 (new) = 更新 = modification
경신 = 경 (alter) + 신 (new) = 更新 = breaking the record
혁신 = 혁 (alter) + 신 (new) = 革新 = innovation
신세대 = 신 (new) + 세대 (generation) = 新世代 = new generation
신세계 = 신 (new) + 세계 (world) = 新世界= new world
신입 = 신 (new) + 입 (enter) = 新入 = new employee
신입 사원 = 신 (new) + 입 (enter) + 사 (company) + 원 (member)
= 新入 社員 = new employee
신입생 = 신 (new) + 입 (enter) + 생 (student) = 新入生 = freshman student
신병 = 신 (new) + 병 (soldier) = 新兵 = rookie soldier
신간 = 신 (new) + 간 (publish) = 新刊 = new publication
신간 서적 = 신 (new) + 간 (publish) + 서 (book) + 적 (document) = 新刊 書籍 newly published book