TeacherJoy

You probably already know that all Korean weekdays end with “요일.” And you might have already looked this up, because a lot of learners get curious about what those first parts mean.

Each comes from Sino-Korean, and they all have meanings!

월 as in 월요일 means the moon.
화 means fire.
수 means water.
목 means wood.
금 means metal, and it can also be gold too.
토 means earth.
And 일 means the sun.

Now here’s an interesting fact.

If you add the sino-Korean word ‘성,’ which means star to most of these, they become planet names in Korean!

화성(Mars), 수성(Mercury), 목성(Jupiter), 금성(Venus), 토성(Saturn). Cool, right?

Imagine, a beginner who just learned the days of the week suddenly knows planet names in Korean! That’s kinda cool.

And one more thing. Do you know Korean company LG? It originally stood for Lucky Goldstar, 금성, the same “금” from 금요일!

So next time you check the calendar, you’re basically looking at the whole solar system in Korean!