How do you spell cake in Korean? Is it 케잌 or 케이크?
Korean has official rules for writing loanwords. The first set was announced in 1986, and it’s been updated ever since. But Koreans were already borrowing words like 바나나(banana), 라디오(radio), 카메라(camera) long before that, which is why older spellings and newer ones sometimes clash.
Here’s the key idea. Korean spellings basically follow the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For example, the IPA of time is this [taɪm]. So in Korean, that’s written as 타임.
Now let me break it down into 3 major rules.
Rule #1
Only these seven consonants are allowed at the end of a syllable: ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅅ, and o.
That’s why internet is 인터넷, not 인터넽.
Doughnut becomes 도넛, not 도넡.
- robot – 로봇
- shop – 샵
- cup – 컵
- book – 북
Rule #2
Korean is syllable-timed, so every block has to either ‘consonant + vowel’, or ‘consonant + vowel + consonant.’ You can’t just leave a consonant hanging.
In fact, when Koreans try to pronounce single consonants, they automatically add the vowel /ㅡ/, like ‘그, 느, 드, 르…’ If you tell them to write it, they’ll just write single consonants like ‘ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ…’
That’s why stress [stres] turns into 스트레스, not ㅅㅌ레ㅅ.
France [frɑ́:ns] is 프랑스, not ㅍ랑ㅅ.
And Trump is 트럼프, not ㅌ럼ㅍ.
Rule #3
If the previous syllable ends in the /i/ sound, the final consonant usually moves to a new syllable.
Night [naɪt] is 나이트, not 나잍.
- website [websaɪt] – 웹사이트
- tape [teɪp] – 테이프
- ice cream [aɪskriːm] – 아이스크림
- bite [baɪt] – 바이트
- bike [baɪk] – 바이크
- cake [keɪk] – 케이크
So back to our big question: cake is 케이크, not 케잌.
And as for this: Tip [tɪp] is 팁, not 티프 nor ㅌ이프.
Loanword rules are confusing. But, at least, now you know why Koreans spell cake this way!
I’ve linked a Korean loanword converter below, type in any English loanword and see how it is officially spelled in Korean!
Reference
- 한국어 어문 규범 | 외래어 표기법 https://korean.go.kr/kornorms/regltn/regltnView.do?regltn_code=0003#a
- 중앙일보 | [우리말 바루기] 외래어 받침의 비밀 https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/23349866
- KDI 칼럼 | 외래어 표기에 쓸 수 있는 받침은 단 7개 https://eiec.kdi.re.kr/publish/naraView.do?fcode=00002000040000100012&cidx=11044&sel_year=2017&sel_month=05
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