Family Titles

Let's learn the words for addressing family members. In Korean, these words work a little differently than in English.

Parents

'eomma' means mom, and 'appa' means dad. The more formal words are 'eomeoni' (mother) and 'abeoji' (father).

Siblings

'hyeong' is the older brother a boy addresses, while 'oppa' is the older brother a girl addresses. 'nuna' and 'eonni' both mean older sister, and 'dongsaeng' means a younger sibling.

Korean	Roman	English
형	hyeong	older brother (boy says)
오빠	oppa	older brother (girl says)
누나	nuna	older sister (boy says)
언니	eonni	older sister (girl says)
동생	dongsaeng	younger sibling

Family

'gajok' means family, and 'sikgu' means a household member. You can also specify a younger sibling's gender: 'namdongsaeng' is a younger brother and 'yeodongsaeng' is a younger sister.

Talking About My Family

'uri' literally means our, but Koreans often use it where English would say my, especially for one's own family. For example, 'uri eomma' (my mom) and 'uri hyeong' (my brother).

💡 Tip: Tip: Even for the same 'older brother,' a male speaker says 'hyeong' and a female speaker says 'oppa.' The word depends on the speaker's gender, not the brother's!