This complete Korean Body Parts Vocabulary — Head to Toe Guide is your perfect starting point for learning essential Korean words from day one — even if you have never seen a single Korean letter before. Korean body part vocabulary is one of the first and most practical sets of words you can learn. You will use these words when visiting a doctor in Korea, describing how you feel, following exercise videos in Korean, or simply having a basic conversation. They are foundational, memorable, and deeply connected to your own physical experience — which means they stick in your memory faster than almost any other vocabulary group.
Before we dive into the words themselves, let me quickly reassure you about the Korean writing system. Korean uses an alphabet called Hangul (한글), which was scientifically designed in the 15th century to be easy to learn. Unlike Chinese or Japanese, Hangul has just 24 basic letters — and most beginners can recognize them within a few hours of study. Every word in this lesson will be shown in Hangul, along with a romanization (English letters showing the pronunciation) and an easy English phonetic guide so you know exactly how to say it out loud right now, even before you learn Hangul. Think of the phonetic guide as your pronunciation safety net.
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to name over 20 Korean body parts from head to toe, understand how to use them in simple sentences, and feel genuinely confident about your first steps into the Korean language. Let’s start at the top — literally — and work our way down.
The Head and Face — 머리와 얼굴 (meori wa eolgul)
The head is the perfect place to begin your Korean body parts vocabulary journey. The word for “head” in Korean is 머리 (meori) [MUH-ri] — “head / hair.” Interestingly, this one word covers both “head” and “hair” depending on context — something that surprises many beginners! The word for face is 얼굴 (eolgul) [UL-gool] — “face.” The ㄹ sound in Korean is a soft sound that sits somewhere between the English “r” and “l” — imagine saying “ul” with your tongue lightly tapping the roof of your mouth. Let’s look at the key face vocabulary in our first table below.
| Korean (한글) | Romanization | English Sound [phonetic] | English Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 머리 | meori | [MUH-ri] | “head / hair” |
| 얼굴 | eolgul | [UL-gool] | “face” |
| 눈 | nun | [NOON] | “eye / eyes” |
| 코 | ko | [KOH] | “nose” |
| 입 | ip | [EEP] | “mouth” |
| 귀 | gwi | [GWEE] | “ear / ears” |
💡 Teacher’s Tip
Here is a fun memory trick for the face words: 눈 (nun) [NOON] means “eye” — and when you squint your eyes at noon because the sun is bright, you are using your 눈! For 코 (ko) [KOH], think of someone saying “KOH!” when they smell something bad — they are scrunching their nose. And 귀 (gwi) [GWEE] sounds like “gee-whiz!” — and you need your ears to hear something gee-whiz worthy. These little associations may sound silly, but they genuinely help words lock into long-term memory.
The Body — 몸 (mom) [MOHM] — “body”
Moving down from the face, the word for “body” in Korean is 몸 (mom) [MOHM] — “body.” Yes, it looks like the English word “mom” — but it means “body”! This is one of those wonderful little coincidences that makes beginners smile. Now let’s cover the essential upper body and core vocabulary. The neck is 목 (mok) [MOHK] — “neck / throat.” Notice how 몸 (body) and 목 (neck) look very similar — the only difference is the final consonant. This is a great chance to start noticing how Hangul works. The shoulder is 어깨 (eokkae) [UH-kkeh] — “shoulder” — and the ㄲ here is a tense, doubled consonant that sounds like a sharp “k” with extra pressure, similar to the “ck” sound in “back-kick.”
| Korean (한글) | Romanization | English Sound [phonetic] | English Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 목 | mok | [MOHK] | “neck / throat” |
| 어깨 | eokkae | [UH-kkeh] | “shoulder” |
| 팔 | pal | [PAHL] | “arm” |
| 손 | son | [SOHN] | “hand” |
| 가슴 | gaseum | [KAH-sum] | “chest” |
| 배 | bae | [BEH] | “stomach / belly” |
