TeacherJoy

Today, I’m opening up my “treasure box” of knowledge about Korean Morphology. Morphology is a branch of linguistics that studies the “shape” and structure of words. Since Korean uses a phonetic alphabet, morphology is like a secret cheat code for understanding the language. I’ve studied this for years, so you don’t have to. Just trust me and follow along.

The root ‘맞-‘ basically means “facing each other.” Physically, if you put your hand together like this, that’s ‘맞.’ In English, it feels like “each other.”

That’s how the verb “맞다” was born. If this hand is the “correct answer” and this hand is your “answer,” and they meet perfectly? Then we say “맞아요(That’s correct)” or “맞았어요(That fits).”

This logic extends to everyday life:

• 이 옷 (제 몸에) 잘 맞아요. (This clothing fits my body well.)
• 음식이 제 입에 잘 맞아요. (This food fits my taste.)
• 이 색깔 저한테 잘 맞아요. (This color really suits me.)
• 우리 남편이랑 잘 맞아요. (My husband and I match well. / We get along well.)

Interesting, right? Here’s more.

• 너 나한테 맞고 싶니? (Do you want to get hit?) – Your body and my fist “meeting.”
• 비 엄청 맞았어. (I got soaked by the rain.) – The raindrops “meeting” your skin.

Even if the surfaces don’t physically touch, we still use the ‘맞’ concept. When a friend comes from abroad and you go to the airport?

• 친구 맞으러 공항 가는 중이야. (I’m going to the airport to greet/welcome my friend.)

And did you know? In the 15th century, the verb “만나다” was actually “맞나다.” It’s a combination of “맞-” and the verb “나다.”

One last thing! The verb ‘맞추다’ means “to make something match.” It’s the causative form of ‘맞다.’

Nowadays, with so many English loanwords coming into Korean, we don’t use this phrase quite as often as before. It’s “입을 맞추다,” which shares the exact same meaning as “키스하다.”

Once you know the root ‘맞-,’ all the words finally makes sense, right?

The “맞-” Vocabulary List

• 맞이하다 – to welcome, to greet
  • 새해를 맞이해서 해돋이 보러 갔어요. – We went to see the sunrise to welcome the New Year.
• 맞절하다 – to bow to each other
  • 한국 결혼식에서는 신부와 신랑이 서로 맞절을 해요. – At a Korean wedding, the bride and groom bow to each other.
• 맞교환하다(Sino), 맞바꾸다(Native) – to exchange, to swap
  • 우리는 서로의 연락처를 맞교환했어요. – We exchanged each other’s contact information.
  • 내 사과랑 니 포도 맞바꾸자. – Let’s swap my apple and your grapes.
• 맞닥뜨리다, 마주치다 – to encounter, to run into
  • 골목에서 갑자기 전남친이랑 맞닥뜨렸어. – I suddenly encountered my ex-boyfriend in the alley.
• 맞대다 – to put fact to face
  • 우리는 머리를 맞대고 고민을 했지. – We put our heads together to solve the problem.
• 맞먹다 – to be equal to
  • 이 가방 가격이 내 한 달 월급이랑 맞먹어… – The price of this bag is equal to my monthly salary.
• 맞물리다 – to be interlocked
  • 톱니바퀴가 서로 맞물려서 돌아가네요. – The gears rotate while being interlocked.
• 맞받아치다 – to hit back
  • 그 놈의 무례한 질문에 시원하게 맞받아쳤지. – I gave a satisfying hit back to his rude question.
• 맞벌이 부부 – double-income couple, 맞벌이하다
  • 요즘은 거의 대부분이 맞벌이해요. – Most couple these days are double-income.
• 맞서다 – to stand against
  • 두 팀이 결승전에서 팽팽하게 맞서고 있습니다. – The two teams are standing against each other in the finals.
• 맞은편 – the opposite side
  • 우리집 맞은편에 편의점이 생겼어. – A convenience store opened on the opposite side of my place.
• 맞잡다 – to hold hands together
  • 두 사람은 두 손을 꼭 맞잡고 걸어갔다. – The two walked while holding each other’s hands firmly.
• 맞장구치다 – to chime in
  • 친구가 내 이야기에 맞장구를 잘 쳐 줘요. – My friend reacts well to my stories.
• 맞장뜨다 – to fight one-on-one (Slang)
  • 너, 나랑 맞장뜰래? – Do you want to fight one-on-one with me?
• 마주하다, 마주보다 – to meet eyes/face each other
  • 우리는 카페에서 서로 마주보고 앉았어요. – We sat facing each other in the cafe.

Reference

• 하치근(2010), 우리말 파생형태론 (Korean Derivational Morphology), 도서출판 경진, 173-174.