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 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 [mu-gong-hae] = pollution-free, clean

무 (none) + 료 (fee) = 무료 無料 [mu-ryo] = free of charge

무 (none) + 시 (to see) = 무시 無視 [mu-si] = to overlook, to neglect, to disregard

무 (none) + 책임 (responsibility) = 무책임 無責任 [mu-chae-gim] = irresponsibility

무 (none) + 조건 (condition) = 무조건 無條件 [mu-jo-geon] = unconditionally

무 (none) + 죄 (sin, guilt) = 무죄 無罪 [mu-joe] = innocent, not guilty

무 (none) + 능력 (ability) = 무능력 無能力 [mu-neung-ryeok] = incapability, incompetence

무 (none) + 한 (limit) = 무한 無限 [mu-han] = infinite, limitless

무 (none) + 적 (enemy) = 무적 無敵 [mu-jeok] = unbeatable, invincible

무 (none) + 사고 (accident) = 무사고 無事故 [mu-sa-go] = no accident

무 (none) + 관심 (interest) = 무관심 無關心 [mu-gwan-sim] = indifference, showing no interest

무 (none) + 명 (name) = 무명 無名 [mu-myeong] = not popular, unknown

무 (none) + 인 (person) = 무인 無人 [mu-in] = unmanned, uninhabited