Korean food becomes much easier to understand once you start recognising the words that repeat across menus.
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You may already know kimchi, bibimbap, bulgogi and tteokbokki, but the really useful vocabulary is often less obvious. Learn that guk usually refers to soup, jjigae to stew, gui to grilled food and bokkeum to stir-fried dishes, and suddenly an unfamiliar menu starts giving you clues before you have translated every ingredient.
The same is true of words such as banchan, ssam, jang, namul, anju and honbap. They do not simply name individual dishes; they describe ways Korean food is cooked, served and eaten.
This guide explains the most useful Korean food words, from familiar dishes and ingredients to cooking methods, restaurant language and dining culture.
If you are planning a trip rather than simply learning the vocabulary, Tofu V Travels has first-hand Korea food guides based on repeated visits, including a broader guide to eating and exploring Myeongdong.
Quick Answer
Some of the Korean food words you are most likely to encounter include:
bap — rice or a rice meal
banchan — dishes served alongside a meal
bibimbap — mixed rice
gimbap — rice and fillings rolled in seaweed
guk — soup
tang — soup or broth-based dish
jjigae — stew
jeongol — hot pot
gui — grilled food
bokkeum — stir-fried food
jjim — steamed or braised dish
jorim — food simmered or braised in seasoned liquid
jeon — pan-fried battered or egg-coated dish
twigim — deep-fried food
kimchi — fermented vegetable dish
jang — fermented seasoning or sauce
tteok — rice cake
mandu — dumplings
gogi — meat
ssam — wrapped bite, usually using leaves
anju — food eaten with alcohol
honbap — eating a meal alone
Once you understand these building blocks, many longer Korean dish names become easier to decode.
About This Guide
This is a practical vocabulary guide rather than a list of every Korean dish.
Korean cuisine is far too regional and varied for one page to catalogue every named food usefully. Instead, the guide focuses on terms that help you understand how dishes are named, what they contain, how they are cooked and how they are served.
Where there is a first-hand Tofu V Travels guide to a dish or Korean dining experience, I have linked it directly so you can move from the vocabulary to what the food actually looks and tastes like in Korea.
Dish-name spellings also vary. You may encounter gimbap and kimbap, tteokbokki and older transliterations, or slightly different spacing between words. Modern official menu guidance tends to favour standardised romanisation, but restaurant menus and older travel guides are not always consistent.
Hansik (한식)
Hansik means Korean food or Korean cuisine.
It is the broad term used for Korean culinary culture rather than the name of a particular dish.
Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs uses hansik in its research on how Korean food is perceived internationally. Kimchi, bibimbap, Korean fried chicken, bulgogi and Korean barbecue were among the foods most strongly associated with Korean cuisine in its overseas survey.
Bap (밥)
Bap means cooked rice, but in everyday Korean it can also carry the wider sense of a meal.
Rice remains central to traditional Korean dining, and many dish names contain bap.
Examples include:
bibimbap — mixed rice
bokkeumbap — fried rice
deopbap — rice topped with another dish
gukbap — soup with rice
jumeokbap — rice balls
ssambap — rice eaten in leaf wraps
Korea Tourism Organization materials describe bap as the staple rice component of Korean meals and distinguish several preparations according to grains and toppings.
Bibimbap (비빔밥)
Bibimbap is one of the easiest Korean food names to decode once you recognise its parts.
Bibim is associated with mixing, while bap is rice, so the name is commonly understood as mixed rice.
A bowl usually combines rice with assorted vegetables and other toppings, which may include beef, egg and gochujang. The ingredients are then mixed together before eating.
One of the most famous regional versions is Jeonju bibimbap. If you want to see the dish beyond the definition, Tofu V Travels has a first-hand guide to places to eat bibimbap in Jeonju, including versions served with extensive banchan and yukhoe.
Dolsot Bibimbap
Dolsot bibimbap is bibimbap served in a heated stone bowl.
The hot bowl keeps cooking the rice at the bottom, often creating a crisp layer.
Banchan (반찬)
Banchan refers broadly to the dishes served alongside rice and the main components of a Korean meal.
This might include:
kimchi
seasoned vegetables
bean sprouts
pickles
small fish dishes
tofu
egg dishes
braised vegetables
It is tempting to translate banchan simply as side dishes, and that is useful for beginners, but Korean meal structure is not always identical to the Western idea of one main dish accompanied by optional sides.
Several small dishes may form an integral part of the meal.
The exact selection and refill policy also varies enormously by restaurant, so it is better not to assume that every small dish on a Korean table is automatically free or endlessly refillable.
Kimchi (김치)
Kimchi refers to a broad family of seasoned and fermented vegetable preparations rather than one single recipe.
Napa cabbage kimchi is the version most internationally recognised, but there are many others.
Examples include:
baechu kimchi — napa cabbage kimchi
kkakdugi — cubed radish kimchi
oi kimchi — cucumber kimchi
baek kimchi — white kimchi without the familiar red chilli seasoning
Kimchi is so central to Korean food culture that Seoul has an entire museum devoted to it. Tofu V Travels visited Museum Kimchikan in Insadong, where the exhibits cover different kimchi varieties, fermentation and kimchi-making.
Kimchi can also become an ingredient in other dishes, including kimchi jjigae, kimchi bokkeumbap and kimchijeon.
Jang (장)
Jang is an important word in Korean cooking because it refers to fermented pastes and sauces that form the flavour base of many dishes.
Three especially important examples are:
Gochujang (고추장)
Gochujang is fermented red chilli paste.
It is spicy, savoury and often slightly sweet, and appears in dishes and sauces including bibimbap and many versions of tteokbokki.
Doenjang (된장)
Doenjang is fermented soybean paste.
It is used in soups, stews, sauces and seasonings, including doenjang jjigae.
Ganjang (간장)
Ganjang means soy sauce.
The word appears in names such as ganjang gejang, soy-sauce-marinated crab.
Gochugaru (고춧가루)
Gochugaru is Korean red chilli powder or chilli flakes.
It is used in kimchi and many soups, stews, sauces and seasoned dishes.
Gochugaru and gochujang are not interchangeable: one is dried chilli powder, while the other is a fermented paste.
Korean Soup and Stew Words
One of the most useful things you can learn before reading a Korean menu is the distinction between recurring soup and stew endings.
The exact boundaries can blur in practice, but the vocabulary still gives you a good idea of what kind of dish is coming. Korean menu-standardisation guidance consistently distinguishes categories including guk, tang, jjigae and jeongol.
Guk (국)
Guk is the general Korean word for soup.
It is often served as part of a meal alongside rice and banchan.
Examples include:
miyeokguk — seaweed soup
doenjangguk — soybean-paste soup
Tang (탕)
Tang also refers to soup or broth-based dishes.
The distinction between guk and tang is not always obvious from an English speaker’s perspective, and attempting to impose a rigid rule on every dish usually creates more confusion than it solves.
Well-known examples include:
seolleongtang
samgyetang
galbitang
Jjigae (찌개)
Jjigae is normally translated as stew.
It tends to be more concentrated than a typical guk and is frequently served as part of a shared meal.
Examples include:
kimchi jjigae
doenjang jjigae
sundubu jjigae
budae jjigae
Jeongol (전골)
Jeongol generally refers to a Korean hot-pot dish in which ingredients cook together in a pot, often at the table.
Seolleongtang (설렁탕)
Seolleongtang is a milky-looking beef-bone soup.
Its pale broth comes from long boiling rather than from dairy.
It is typically seasoned to taste at the table and may be eaten with rice and kimchi.
For a first-hand example, Tofu V Travels has repeatedly eaten at and updated its guide to Sinseon Seolleongtang in Myeongdong.
Samgyetang (삼계탕)
Samgyetang is ginseng chicken soup, traditionally made with a small whole chicken stuffed with ingredients such as glutinous rice, garlic, jujube and ginseng.
Interestingly, it is strongly associated with hot-weather eating in Korea rather than only being treated as a winter soup.
If you want to see the dish in context, Tofu V Travels reviews Tosokchon Samgyetang in Seoul, one of the best-known restaurants specialising in it.
Gamjatang (감자탕)
Gamjatang is a rich pork-bone stew commonly made with potatoes, vegetables and seasoning.
The name can confuse learners because gamja normally means potato, yet the defining ingredient is pork spine or neck bones.
It is a substantial communal dish particularly comforting in colder weather.
To see what an actual restaurant serving looks like, Tofu V Travels has a review of Onedang Gamjatang in Myeongdong.
Sundubu Jjigae (순두부찌개)
Sundubu jjigae is soft-tofu stew.
The tofu is exceptionally soft and is usually served in a hot broth with other ingredients that vary by restaurant, such as seafood, meat, vegetables or egg.
Doenjang Jjigae (된장찌개)
Doenjang jjigae is a stew flavoured with fermented soybean paste.
It often contains tofu and vegetables and may be served alongside Korean barbecue or as part of a larger meal.
Budae Jjigae (부대찌개)
Budae jjigae is commonly translated as army-base stew or army stew.
It developed in the period following the Korean War and combines Korean stew ingredients with foods historically associated with American military supplies, such as processed meat.
Modern versions often include ramyeon noodles, sausages, Spam, kimchi and cheese.
Jjim (찜)
Jjim refers broadly to dishes cooked by steaming or braising.
The exact cooking technique varies with the dish.
Examples include:
galbijjim — braised short ribs
dakjjim — braised chicken dishes
Jjimdak (찜닭)
Jjimdak is a braised chicken dish, with Andong jjimdak being the best-known regional form.
It typically combines chicken, vegetables, noodles and a soy-based sauce.
This is one of those Korean dishes that is much easier to find in Korea than in many overseas Korean restaurants. Tofu V Travels has a first-hand review of Andong Jjimdak in Seoul.
Jorim (조림)
Jorim refers to food simmered or braised in a seasoned liquid until the flavours become concentrated.
Examples include:
galchi jorim — braised hairtail
dubu jorim — braised tofu
Bokkeum (볶음)
Bokkeum means a stir-fried preparation.
You will see it inside many dish names.
Examples include:
jeyuk bokkeum — stir-fried spicy pork
nakji bokkeum — stir-fried octopus
kimchi bokkeumbap — kimchi fried rice
The closely related bokkeumbap literally refers to fried rice.
Gui (구이)
Gui describes grilled food.
Examples include:
saengseon gui — grilled fish
galbi gui — grilled ribs
The word is useful because it identifies the cooking method even if you do not recognise the ingredient.
Jeon (전)
Jeon refers to pan-fried foods, commonly made by coating ingredients or mixtures with flour and/or egg before cooking.
Examples include:
pajeon — scallion pancake
haemul pajeon — seafood scallion pancake
kimchijeon — kimchi pancake
English speakers often call these Korean pancakes, although not every jeon resembles what an English speaker would normally imagine as a pancake.
Twigim (튀김)
Twigim refers to deep-fried foods.
At street-food stalls, this may include:
vegetables
sweet potato
dumplings
seaweed rolls
seafood
Twigim is commonly eaten alongside tteokbokki.
Korean Barbecue Vocabulary
Korean barbecue has introduced several Korean words to international diners.
For a first-hand restaurant example, see Tofu V Travels’ review of Hwanggeum Mokjang Korean BBQ in Myeongdong, where the staff grill the meat at the table.
Gogi (고기)
Gogi means meat.
Gogigui (고기구이)
Gogigui broadly means grilled meat.
In English, however, people are much more likely simply to say Korean barbecue or K-BBQ.
Samgyeopsal (삼겹살)
Samgyeopsal is pork belly, especially the thick slices commonly grilled at Korean barbecue restaurants.
It is often eaten with:
garlic
kimchi
ssamjang
lettuce or perilla leaves
other banchan
Galbi (갈비)
Galbi means ribs.
Depending on the restaurant and dish, you may encounter beef or pork galbi.
Bulgogi (불고기)
Bulgogi refers to thinly sliced meat, most famously beef, seasoned and cooked.
The name is often translated literally as fire meat, although modern bulgogi can be cooked in several ways rather than necessarily over an open flame.
Ssam (쌈)
Ssam means a wrap.
At a barbecue meal, you may place meat, rice, garlic, kimchi or ssamjang onto a lettuce or perilla leaf, wrap the leaf around the filling and eat it as one bite.
Ssamjang (쌈장)
Ssamjang is the thick seasoned sauce commonly eaten with ssam and grilled meat.
Dakgalbi (닭갈비)
Dakgalbi is a spicy chicken dish commonly cooked with vegetables and gochujang-based seasoning on a large hot plate.
Despite the galbi in the name, the familiar modern dish is not simply chicken ribs.
Restaurants may add rice cakes, noodles or cheese, and fried rice is often made from the remaining sauce and ingredients at the end.
Korean Noodle Words
Guksu (국수)
Guksu is a general Korean word for noodles.
You will see it in names such as janchi guksu and kalguksu.
Kalguksu (칼국수)
Kalguksu literally refers to knife-cut noodles.
The noodles are typically served in broth.
If you want to try them in a traditional market setting, Tofu V Travels’ Namdaemun Market guide discusses the market’s famous food areas, including kalguksu alongside dumplings, hotteok and other local dishes.
Naengmyeon (냉면)
Naengmyeon means cold noodles.
They are particularly popular in warm weather and may be served in a cold broth or mixed with a spicy sauce.
Ramyeon (라면)
Ramyeon usually refers to Korean instant noodles.
Korean convenience stores have helped make the word internationally familiar, with some stores providing hot water and cooking facilities so customers can prepare the noodles immediately.
Jajangmyeon (짜장면)
Jajangmyeon is a Korean-Chinese noodle dish topped with a dark sauce made with chunjang, a black bean paste.
It is not a traditional Korean dish in quite the same sense as kimchi jjigae or bibimbap; it developed within Korea’s Chinese-Korean culinary culture.
There is even a museum dedicated to its history in Incheon. Tofu V Travels visited the Jjajangmyeon Museum for a closer look at how the dish developed in Korea.
Jjamppong (짬뽕)
Jjamppong is another Korean-Chinese favourite, consisting of noodles in a spicy broth commonly containing seafood and vegetables.
Jjajangmyeon and jjamppong are often sold by the same restaurants.
Gimbap (김밥)
Gimbap is rice and fillings rolled in sheets of gim, or seaweed.
Common fillings may include:
egg
pickled radish
vegetables
tuna
beef
ham or luncheon meat
It is frequently compared with Japanese sushi because both involve rice and seaweed, but the flavouring, fillings and cultural context are different.
Gimbap is a particularly convenient food for travelling, picnics and quick meals.
Mandu (만두)
Mandu are Korean dumplings.
They may be:
jjin mandu — steamed
gun mandu — fried
served in soup
added to hot pots
Fillings vary widely and can include meat, tofu, vegetables or kimchi.
Mandu are also common at markets and street-food stalls. Tofu V Travels’ Korean street-food guide includes first-hand examples.
Tteok (떡)
Tteok refers to Korean rice cakes.
The category is much broader than the cylindrical rice cakes used in tteokbokki.
Tteok can be:
sweet or savoury
soft or chewy
plain or filled
everyday snacks or ceremonial foods
Different forms appear in celebrations, desserts, soups and street food.
Tteokbokki (떡볶이)
Tteokbokki is one of Korea’s best-known street foods.
The familiar modern version combines chewy rice cakes with a spicy red sauce, often based on gochujang.
Additional ingredients may include:
eomuk
boiled eggs
ramyeon noodles
cheese
To see the kind sold at actual Korean street-food stalls, Tofu V Travels includes tteokbokki among the dishes in its Korea street-food guide.
Eomuk (어묵)
Eomuk is Korean fish cake.
Street stalls commonly serve it on skewers in hot broth, making it particularly popular in colder weather.
You may also see eomuk added to tteokbokki.
Hotteok (호떡)
Hotteok is a filled pancake, most famously containing a sweet mixture that may include sugar, cinnamon and nuts or seeds.
Regional versions differ.
Busan is particularly associated with ssiat hotteok, containing seeds.
Namdaemun Market is one of the places where travellers commonly encounter hotteok alongside other market food; see Tofu V Travels’ Namdaemun Market food and shopping guide.
Bungeoppang (붕어빵)
Bungeoppang is a fish-shaped pastry traditionally filled with sweet red-bean paste.
Despite the fish shape, it normally contains no fish.
Modern versions may contain custard, chocolate or other fillings.
Gyeranppang (계란빵)
Gyeranppang means egg bread.
It is a small bread or cake-like street snack baked with an egg.
Tofu V Travels has eaten it repeatedly at Korean street-food stalls and includes it in its Korean street-food guide.
Sundae (순대)
Korean sundae, pronounced very differently from the English ice-cream word, is a type of blood sausage.
It is commonly sold as street food and may be eaten alongside tteokbokki.
Korean Fried Chicken Words
Korean fried chicken has become a food category of its own internationally.
Huraideu Chicken (후라이드치킨)
This refers to plain or classic fried chicken without the familiar sticky seasoned glaze.
Yangnyeom Chicken (양념치킨)
Yangnyeom chicken is fried chicken coated in a seasoned sauce, often sweet, spicy or both.
Dakgangjeong (닭강정)
Dakgangjeong is crispy chicken coated in a sticky glaze.
It is often served as bite-sized pieces.
Chimaek (치맥)
Chimaek is a blend of chicken and maekju, the Korean word for beer.
It describes one of Korea’s most recognisable casual food-and-drink pairings: fried chicken with beer.
For the experience rather than just the definition, Tofu V Travels reviews bb.q Chicken and chimaek in Korea after trying several major fried-chicken chains.
Korean Street-Food Vocabulary
Korean street food goes well beyond tteokbokki.
Common words include:
tteokbokki — spicy rice cakes
eomuk — fish cake
hotteok — filled pancake
bungeoppang — fish-shaped pastry
mandu — dumplings
gyeranppang — egg bread
sundae — blood sausage
twigim — fried foods
dakgangjeong — glazed fried chicken
Myeongdong is convenient for sampling several of these in one place, although it is not necessarily the cheapest or most traditional place to eat them. Tofu V Travels’ Myeongdong guide treats the evening stalls more as a fun snacking experience than as the only place you should eat Korean street food.
For a broader first-hand list, see the site’s dedicated Korean street-food guide.
Korean Dessert Words
Bingsu (빙수)
Bingsu is a shaved-ice dessert.
Traditional versions may feature sweetened red beans, while modern cafés sell flavours involving fruit, chocolate, green tea, cheesecake and countless other toppings.
Patbingsu specifically refers to bingsu with sweet red bean.
One of Korea’s best-known bingsu chains is Sulbing, which Tofu V Travels reviews in its guide to Sulbing and Korean bingsu.
Yakgwa (약과)
Yakgwa is a traditional Korean sweet made from a wheat-flour dough traditionally flavoured with ingredients such as honey or syrup and sesame oil before being fried and soaked in syrup.
It has experienced a modern revival, with cafés and bakeries incorporating yakgwa into cookies, pastries and other desserts.
Tofu V Travels found plenty of examples of that trend at Myeongdong Yanggwa, where traditional-dessert ideas are reworked into contemporary bakery products.
Hangwa (한과)
Hangwa is a broad term associated with traditional Korean confectionery.
It covers several different sweets rather than one particular cookie.
Yaksik (약식)
Yaksik is a sweet glutinous-rice dish commonly made with ingredients such as jujubes, nuts and sweet seasoning.
Korean Café and Bakery Vocabulary
Modern Korean food culture is not limited to traditional dishes.
Seoul’s bakeries and cafés have developed trends that can spread rapidly through social media.
One current example is salt bread, a buttery salted roll originally influenced by Japanese shio pan. It has become widespread enough in Korea that specialist bakeries sell little else.
Tofu V Travels has a first-hand review of Fresh Bread Factory in Myeongdong, as well as the more trend-driven Myeongdong Yanggwa linked above.
These are useful reminders that “Korean food vocabulary” continues to evolve rather than referring only to centuries-old dishes.
Korean Drink Words
Soju (소주)
Soju is Korea’s best-known distilled alcoholic drink.
Modern commercial versions are frequently lower in alcohol than traditional distilled soju and are widely consumed with food.
Maekju (맥주)
Maekju means beer.
It gives us the maek part of chimaek.
Makgeolli (막걸리)
Makgeolli is a traditional Korean rice-based alcoholic drink with an opaque, cloudy appearance.
It is often associated with foods such as pajeon.
Sikhye (식혜)
Sikhye is a sweet rice drink often served as a dessert beverage.
Sujeonggwa (수정과)
Sujeonggwa is a traditional sweet drink flavoured with ingredients including cinnamon and ginger.
Anju (안주)
Anju means food eaten with alcoholic drinks.
The concept is broader than the English word snacks.
Anju might be fried chicken, grilled meat, dried seafood, pancakes, stews or other substantial dishes depending on where and what people are drinking.
Pojangmacha (포장마차)
A pojangmacha is a type of street-food or drinking tent/stall.
These establishments are associated with casual evening eating and drinking and may serve dishes such as:
tteokbokki
eomuk
sundae
noodles
seafood
anju
The modern reality varies considerably, from literal temporary tents to more permanent restaurants styled around the tradition.
Hanjeongsik (한정식)
Hanjeongsik refers to a Korean set meal or full-course style of dining involving numerous dishes.
Depending on the restaurant, it can range from relatively straightforward set meals to elaborate dining experiences involving many courses and banchan.
It should not simply be treated as a synonym for any Korean meal with several side dishes.
Jeongsik (정식)
Jeongsik generally refers to a set meal.
You may see the word attached to the name of a particular dish on restaurant menus.
Baekban (백반)
Baekban is a Korean home-style set meal generally centred on rice with soup and multiple banchan.
It is one of the useful words to recognise if you want an everyday Korean meal rather than a single famous tourist dish.
Hoe (회)
Hoe refers broadly to raw sliced fish or seafood preparations.
It is often compared with Japanese sashimi, but the accompanying sauces, serving style and wider dining culture are Korean.
Haemul (해물)
Haemul means seafood.
Recognising the word immediately helps with dishes such as:
haemul pajeon — seafood scallion pancake
haemul jjigae — seafood stew
Ojingeo (오징어)
Ojingeo means squid.
Nakji (낙지)
Nakji refers to a type of small octopus.
It appears in dishes such as nakji bokkeum, spicy stir-fried octopus.
Ganjang Gejang (간장게장)
Ganjang gejang is raw crab marinated in soy sauce.
There is also a spicy seasoned form commonly called yangnyeom gejang.
Namul (나물)
Namul refers broadly to seasoned vegetable or plant dishes.
These frequently appear as banchan and as components of bibimbap.
A simple English translation such as vegetable side dish loses some of the distinction between different Korean preparation methods, which is one reason Korean menu terminology is worth learning rather than translating everything into a small set of generic English food words.
Muchim (무침)
Muchim refers to ingredients that have been seasoned or mixed with a dressing.
Many vegetable and seafood dishes use this term.
Jangajji (장아찌)
Jangajji refers to vegetables pickled or preserved in seasoned sauces.
They are commonly served as banchan.
Yukhoe (육회)
Yukhoe is a raw beef dish seasoned with ingredients that may include sesame oil and other condiments.
It is also used as a topping for some bibimbap.
Tofu V Travels encountered yukhoe versions while researching bibimbap restaurants in Jeonju.
Mukbang (먹방)
Mukbang refers to online eating broadcasts.
The word combines shortened forms related to eating and broadcast.
Although mukbang became internationally known through Korean online culture, it is not a traditional culinary term in the same sense as bap or jjigae. It is a modern media word that grew around food.
Honbap (혼밥)
Honbap means eating alone or having a meal by yourself.
The word became increasingly familiar as solo dining became more visible in Korean culture.
It is especially useful for travellers because not every Korean restaurant works equally well for one diner. Some barbecue and communal-dish restaurants may expect orders for two or more people.
Tofu V Travels’ guide to solo travel in Korea includes practical notes on honbap and foods that are easier to order alone, such as gukbap, gimbap and street food.
Korean Food Words Built From Cooking Methods
One of the most useful patterns to recognise is that many Korean dish names combine an ingredient with a cooking method.
For example:
nakji bokkeum
nakji = octopus
bokkeum = stir-fried
haemul pajeon
haemul = seafood
pa = scallion
jeon = pan-fried dish
kimchi jjigae
kimchi = kimchi
jjigae = stew
galbi gui
galbi = ribs
gui = grilled
dubu jorim
dubu = tofu
jorim = braised or simmered
This pattern is much more useful to learn than memorising every possible dish independently. Korean Food Promotion Institute menu guidance similarly groups many dishes by endings corresponding to methods such as soup, stew, hot pot, grilling, braising and stir-frying.
Korean Food Vocabulary by Category
| Category | Useful words |
|---|---|
| Rice | bap, bibimbap, bokkeumbap, deopbap, gukbap |
| Soups | guk, tang, seolleongtang, samgyetang |
| Stews | jjigae, kimchi jjigae, sundubu jjigae, gamjatang |
| Hot pots | jeongol |
| Braised food | jjim, jjimdak, jorim |
| Grilled food | gui, gogigui, samgyeopsal, galbi |
| Stir-fried food | bokkeum, dakgalbi, nakji bokkeum |
| Fried food | jeon, twigim, dakgangjeong |
| Noodles | guksu, kalguksu, naengmyeon, ramyeon |
| Korean-Chinese | jajangmyeon, jjamppong |
| Street food | tteokbokki, eomuk, hotteok, sundae, mandu |
| Fermented foods | kimchi, gochujang, doenjang, ganjang |
| Side dishes | banchan, namul, muchim, jangajji |
| Wrapping | ssam, ssamjang |
| Desserts | bingsu, yakgwa, hangwa, tteok |
| Drinks | soju, makgeolli, maekju, sikhye |
| Dining culture | anju, honbap, pojangmacha, hanjeongsik |
Korean Food Words A–Z
For a quicker reference:
A: anju
B: baekban, banchan, bap, bibimbap, bingsu, bokkeum, bokkeumbap, budae jjigae, bulgogi, bungeoppang
C: chimaek
D: dakgalbi, dakgangjeong, dashima, deopbap, doenjang, doenjang jjigae, dubu
E: eomuk
G: galbi, gamjatang, ganjang, ganjang gejang, gimbap, gochugaru, gochujang, gogi, gogigui, guk, gukbap, guksu, gyeranppang
H: haemul, hangwa, hanjeongsik, hansik, hoe, honbap, hotteok
J: jajangmyeon, jang, jangajji, japchae, jeon, jeongol, jeongsik, jjigae, jjim, jjimdak, jjamppong, jorim, juk
K: kalguksu, kimchi, kimchi jjigae, kkakdugi
M: maekju, makgeolli, mandu, miyeokguk, muchim, mukbang
N: naengmyeon, nakji, namul
O: ojingeo
P: pajeon, pojangmacha
R: ramyeon
S: samgyeopsal, samgyetang, seolleongtang, sikhye, soju, ssam, ssambap, ssamjang, sundae, sundubu jjigae, sujeonggwa
T: tang, tteok, tteokbokki, twigim
Y: yakgwa, yangnyeom chicken, yaksik, yukhoe
Why Some Korean Food Words Are Hard to Translate
The difficulty is not simply that the words are Korean.
Sometimes the food category itself does not match neatly with an English one.
Take banchan. Side dishes is a convenient translation, but it does not capture the role that multiple shared dishes play in a Korean meal.
Or consider jeon. Calling it a pancake works reasonably well for pajeon, but some jeon are individual pieces of meat, fish or vegetables coated and pan-fried rather than anything an English speaker would normally identify as a pancake.
The same problem appears with guk, tang and jjigae. English gives us soup and stew, but Korean culinary vocabulary divides these foods according to its own traditions.
This is why learning the original word is often more useful than searching endlessly for a perfect one-word translation.
Why Korean Food Vocabulary Has Become So Familiar Internationally
A surprising number of Korean food words now appear untranslated in English-language media and restaurant menus.
Kimchi requires almost no explanation in many countries. Bibimbap, bulgogi, tteokbokki, soju and Korean barbecue have also become increasingly familiar.
That growth has happened alongside the wider international spread of Korean culture through television, music, travel, beauty and online media.
But food words tend to survive because people actually need them.
There is no especially useful English substitute for tteokbokki. Calling it “stir-fried rice cake” describes part of the dish but loses the food’s identity.
Eventually the Korean word becomes easier.
If You’re Eating Korean Food in Korea
Knowing the vocabulary is useful, but restaurant context matters just as much.
Some dishes are designed for individuals. Others make much more sense as communal meals. Korean barbecue may involve a grill built into the table, while jjimdak or jeongol can arrive as one large dish for everyone to share.
Markets introduce another style of eating altogether.
Tofu V Travels’ guides to Korean street food and Namdaemun Market show how terms such as hotteok, eomuk, mandu, kalguksu and tteokbokki appear outside a conventional restaurant.
And if you are staying in one of Seoul’s most tourist-heavy neighbourhoods, its Myeongdong food and neighbourhood guide gives a useful sense of which dishes are easy to find there and which places the editor actually returns to after repeated trips.
Final Thoughts
You do not need to memorise hundreds of Korean dishes to become more confident reading a Korean menu.
Learning a relatively small group of recurring words gets you surprisingly far.
Know that bap means rice, guk and tang point towards soups, jjigae means stew, gui signals something grilled, bokkeum means stir-fried, jjim and jorim describe forms of braising or simmering, and jeon and twigim tell you something about how a dish has been fried.
Then add a handful of essential food words such as kimchi, banchan, gogi, mandu, tteok, jang and ssam.
Suddenly a menu that once looked like a collection of unrelated names starts to reveal a structure.
And that is ultimately the useful thing about learning Korean food vocabulary: you stop merely recognising famous dishes and start understanding how Korean food describes itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some common Korean food words?
Common Korean food words include kimchi, banchan, bap, bibimbap, bulgogi, gimbap, jjigae, mandu, samgyeopsal, tteokbokki, gochujang, doenjang, soju and ssam.
What does hansik mean?
Hansik means Korean food or Korean cuisine.
What does bap mean?
Bap means cooked rice and can also be used more broadly in relation to a meal.
What does banchan mean?
Banchan refers to dishes served alongside rice and other parts of a Korean meal. It is commonly translated as side dishes.
What is kimchi?
Kimchi refers to a broad family of seasoned and fermented vegetable foods. Napa cabbage kimchi is the best-known version internationally, but many other varieties exist.
If you are especially interested in kimchi, Tofu V Travels has a first-hand guide to Museum Kimchikan in Seoul.
What does bibimbap mean?
Bibimbap means mixed rice and normally consists of rice served with assorted toppings that are mixed together before eating.
For regional examples, see Tofu V Travels’ guide to bibimbap in Jeonju.
What does jjigae mean?
Jjigae means stew.
Examples include kimchi jjigae, sundubu jjigae and doenjang jjigae.
What does guk mean?
Guk is a general Korean word for soup.
What does tang mean in Korean food?
Tang refers to a soup or broth-based dish. Examples include seolleongtang, samgyetang and galbitang.
What does gui mean?
Gui describes grilled foods.
What does bokkeum mean?
Bokkeum describes stir-fried food.
What does jjim mean?
Jjim refers broadly to dishes cooked through methods including steaming or braising.
One famous example is Andong jjimdak, which you can see in Tofu V Travels’ Andong Jjimdak restaurant guide.
What is samgyeopsal?
Samgyeopsal is pork belly, particularly the thick slices commonly grilled at Korean barbecue restaurants.
What is Korean barbecue called in Korean?
Gogigui broadly means grilled meat, although Korean speakers and English-language restaurants use many more specific dish names depending on the meat.
What does ssam mean?
Ssam means a wrapped bite, commonly made by placing grilled meat and condiments inside a lettuce or perilla leaf.
What is tteokbokki?
Tteokbokki is a Korean street food made with chewy rice cakes, most famously in a spicy red sauce.
You can see examples sold in Korea in Tofu V Travels’ street-food guide.
What is gimbap?
Gimbap consists of rice and fillings rolled in seaweed. It is commonly eaten as a quick meal, picnic food or takeaway.
What is mandu?
Mandu are Korean dumplings. They may be steamed, fried or served in soups and hot pots.
What is seolleongtang?
Seolleongtang is a beef-bone soup with a pale, milky-looking broth.
Tofu V Travels has an updated first-hand review of Sinseon Seolleongtang in Myeongdong.
What is samgyetang?
Samgyetang is Korean ginseng chicken soup.
A famous Seoul example is covered in Tofu V Travels’ Tosokchon Samgyetang review.
What is gamjatang?
Gamjatang is a hearty pork-bone stew commonly containing potatoes and vegetables.
Tofu V Travels has also reviewed Onedang Gamjatang in Myeongdong.
What is jajangmyeon?
Jajangmyeon is a Korean-Chinese noodle dish served with a dark black-bean sauce.
Its history in Korea is explored at the Jjajangmyeon Museum in Incheon.
What is bingsu?
Bingsu is Korean shaved ice served with toppings.
Tofu V Travels has a review of Sulbing, one of Korea’s best-known bingsu chains.
What is yakgwa?
Yakgwa is a traditional Korean sweet made from fried dough that is soaked in a sweet syrup.
Modern bakeries increasingly use it in contemporary desserts, as seen in Tofu V Travels’ review of Myeongdong Yanggwa.
What does chimaek mean?
Chimaek combines words for chicken and maekju, or beer, and means eating fried chicken with beer.
Tofu V Travels covers the pairing in its review of bb.q Chicken in Korea.
What does anju mean?
Anju means food eaten while drinking alcohol.
What does honbap mean?
Honbap means eating alone.
It is useful vocabulary for solo travellers because some Korean restaurants are much easier for one diner than others. Tofu V Travels includes practical examples in its solo travel in Korea guide.
What does mukbang mean?
Mukbang refers to an online eating broadcast. It is a modern Korean media term rather than the name of a traditional dish.
What are the most famous Korean street foods?
Famous examples include tteokbokki, eomuk, hotteok, bungeoppang, mandu, sundae, twigim and gyeranppang.
For first-hand examples, see Tofu V Travels’ Korean street-food guide.
