If you’re planning to visit a ๋ง์ฌ์ง์ต (ma-sa-ji-syap) or a ์คํ (seu-pa) in Korea, itโs helpful to know some essential Korean words and phrases used in these places.
In this post, you’ll learn important Korean vocabulary for massage shops, spas, and body care servicesโincluding types of massages, customer service expressions, and common items or actions. Whether you’re a visitor or a Korean language learner, this list will help you navigate any massage or wellness setting with ease!
๐ฟ Basic Massage-Related Korean Vocabulary
| Korean | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ๋ง์ฌ์ง | ma-sa-ji | Massage |
| ๋ง์ฌ์ง์ต | ma-sa-ji-syap | Massage shop |
| ์คํ | seu-pa | Spa |
| ์๋ง | an-ma | Korean-style massage |
| ์ง์ | ji-ap | Acupressure |
| ์๋ก๋ง ๋ง์ฌ์ง | a-ro-ma ma-sa-ji | Aroma massage |
| ์คํฌ์ธ ๋ง์ฌ์ง | seu-po-cheu ma-sa-ji | Sports massage |
| ๋ฐ ๋ง์ฌ์ง | bal ma-sa-ji | Foot massage |
| ์ ์ ๋ง์ฌ์ง | jeon-sin ma-sa-ji | Full body massage |
| ๋ฑ ๋ง์ฌ์ง | deung ma-sa-ji | Back massage |
| ์ด๊นจ ๋ง์ฌ์ง | eo-kkae ma-sa-ji | Shoulder massage |
| ์ผ๊ตด ๋ง์ฌ์ง | eol-gul ma-sa-ji | Facial massage |
| ์ค์ผ ๋ง์ฌ์ง | o-il ma-sa-ji | Oil massage |
| ๊ฑด์ ๋ง์ฌ์ง | geon-sik ma-sa-ji | Dry massage |
| ์ต์ ๋ง์ฌ์ง | seup-sik ma-sa-ji | Wet massage |
๐งโโ๏ธ Spa & Facility Vocabulary
| Korean | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ํ | tang | Bath (public or private) |
| ์ฌ์ฐ๋ | sa-u-na | Sauna |
| ์ฐ์ง๋ฐฉ | jjim-jil-bang | Korean sauna room |
| ํ์์ค | tal-ui-sil | Changing room |
| ์ค์์ค | sya-wo-sil | Shower room |
| ์๊ฑด | su-geon | Towel |
| ๊ฐ์ด | ga-un | Robe |
| ๋ก์ | ro-syeon | Lotion |
| ์ค์ผ | o-il | Oil |
| ์๋ก๋ง | a-ro-ma | Aroma |
| ํฅ์ด | hyang-cho | Scented candle |
๐ฃ๏ธ Useful Korean Phrases at a Massage Shop
| Korean | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ์ด๋ค ๋ง์ฌ์ง๋ฅผ ์ํ์ธ์? | eo-tteon ma-sa-ji-reul won-ha-se-yo? | What type of massage would you like? |
| ์ ์ ๋ง์ฌ์ง ๋ถํํด์. | jeon-sin ma-sa-ji bu-tak-hae-yo. | I’d like a full-body massage, please. |
| ๋ฐ๋ง ๋ง์ฌ์ง ํด ์ฃผ์ธ์. | bal-man ma-sa-ji hae ju-se-yo. | Only a foot massage, please. |
| ์๋ก๋ง ์ค์ผ ์จ ์ฃผ์ธ์. | a-ro-ma o-il sseo ju-se-yo. | Please use aroma oil. |
| ๋๋ฌด ์ธ๊ฒ ํ์ง ๋ง์ธ์. | neo-mu se-ge ha-ji ma-se-yo. | Please donโt press too hard. |
| ์กฐ๊ธ ๋ ์ธ๊ฒ ํด ์ฃผ์ธ์. | jo-geum deo se-ge hae ju-se-yo. | Please press a little harder. |
| ์ํ์. | a-pa-yo. | It hurts. |
| ์์ํด์! | si-won-hae-yo! | It feels good! |
| ๋ฐ๋ปํ ์๊ฑด ์ฃผ์ธ์. | tta-tteut-han su-geon ju-se-yo. | Please give me a warm towel. |
| ์นด๋ ๊ฒฐ์ ๊ฐ๋ฅํด์? | ka-deu gyeol-je ga-neung-hae-yo? | Can I pay with a card? |
| ํ๊ธ๋ง ๋ผ์? | hyeon-geum-man dwae-yo? | Do you only accept cash? |
๐งโโ๏ธ Etiquette & Tips for Visiting Korean Massage Shops
- Remove your shoes before entering.
- Changing into the provided clothing or gown is usually required.
- Always communicate discomfort or preferences politely.
- Tipping is not customary in Korea, but appreciated in some touristy areas.
- Be respectful of quiet, relaxing atmospheresโno loud talking or phones.
๐ฏ Practice Time!
Try answering these in the comments:
1๏ธโฃ How do you say โfoot massageโ in Korean?
2๏ธโฃ Whatโs the Korean word for โchanging roomโ?
3๏ธโฃ How do you politely say โPlease press a little harderโ?
๐ Want to Learn More?
โ๏ธ Cleaning in Korean
โ๏ธ Wedding Vocabulary
โ๏ธ Gas Station in Korean
Do you need personalized Korean lessons? ๐ Click here to book a session! ๐
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