Getting your nails done in Korea? Whether you’re visiting a ๋ค์ผ์ต (nail salon) for a basic manicure or a full-on nail art session, knowing some essential Korean nail salon vocabulary and phrases will make your experience smoother and more enjoyable.
In this post, you’ll learn Korean words for nail services, tools, styles, and practical expressions to use when talking to your nail technician. Save this list for your next beauty appointment in Korea!
๐ช Korean Words for Nail Salon & Services
| Korean | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ๋ค์ผ์ต | ne-il-syap | Nail salon |
| ๋ค์ผ์ํธ | ne-il-a-teu | Nail art |
| ๋งค๋ํ์ด | mae-ni-kyo-eo | Manicure |
| ํ๋ํ์ด | pe-di-kyo-eo | Pedicure |
| ์ ค ๋ค์ผ | jel ne-il | Gel nails |
| ์ํฌ๋ฆด ๋ค์ผ | a-keu-ril ne-il | Acrylic nails |
| ์ฐ์ฅ ๋ค์ผ | yeon-jang ne-il | Nail extension |
| ์ผ์ด | ke-eo | Nail care |
| ์ํฑ | son-top | Fingernail |
| ๋ฐํฑ | bal-top | Toenail |
๐งฐ Nail Salon Tools & Materials in Korean
| Korean | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ๋ค์ผํ์ผ | ne-il-pa-il | Nail file |
| ๋ฒํผ | beo-peo | Buffer |
| ํํฐํด | kyu-ti-keul | Cuticle |
| ํํฐํด ๋ฆฌ๋ฌด๋ฒ | kyu-ti-keul ri-mu-beo | Cuticle remover |
| ์ํฑ๊น์ด | son-top-kkak-i | Nail clipper |
| ์ ค๋จํ | jel-laem-peu | UV gel lamp |
| ํ์ฝํธ | tap-ko-teu | Top coat |
| ๋ฒ ์ด์ค์ฝํธ | be-i-seu-ko-teu | Base coat |
| ๋ค์ผ ๋ธ๋ฌ์ | ne-il beu-reo-si | Nail brush |
| ๋ค์ผ ์คํฐ์ปค | ne-il seu-ti-keo | Nail sticker |
๐จ Nail Colors & Styles in Korean
| Korean | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ์๊น | saek-kkal | Color |
| ๋ฐ์ง์ด | ban-jjak-i | Glitter |
| ๋ฌด๊ด | mu-gwang | Matte |
| ์ ๊ด | yu-gwang | Glossy |
| ํ๋ ์น ๋ค์ผ | peu-ren-chi ne-il | French nails |
| ๊ทธ๋ผ๋ฐ์ด์ | geu-ra-de-i-syon | Gradient |
| ์ํค | won-ton | Solid color |
| ํฌ์ธํธ ๋ค์ผ | po-in-teu ne-il | Accent nail |
| ์คํค ๋ค์ผ | seu-ton ne-il | Stone-decorated nails |
| ์คํธ๋ผ์ดํ | seu-teu-ra-i-peu | Striped design |
๐ฃ๏ธ Common Nail Salon Phrases in Korean
| Korean | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ๋ค์ผ ์์ฝํ๊ณ ์ถ์ด์. | ne-il ye-yak-ha-go sip-eo-yo | Iโd like to make a nail appointment. |
| ์ด๋ค ์คํ์ผ์ด ์์ด์? | eo-tteon seu-ta-il-i iss-eo-yo? | What styles do you have? |
| ์ด ๋์์ธ์ผ๋ก ํด ์ฃผ์ธ์. | i di-ja-in-eu-ro hae ju-se-yo | Please do it like this design. |
| ์ํฑ ์งง๊ฒ ์๋ผ ์ฃผ์ธ์. | son-top jjal-ge jal-la ju-se-yo | Please cut my nails short. |
| ํํฐํด ์ ๋ฆฌํด ์ฃผ์ธ์. | kyu-ti-keul jeong-ri-hae ju-se-yo | Please clean up my cuticles. |
| ์ ค ๋ค์ผ ํ๊ณ ์ถ์ด์. | jel ne-il ha-go sip-eo-yo | I want to get gel nails. |
| ๋งค๋ํ์ด๋ง ํด ์ฃผ์ธ์. | mae-ni-kyo-eo-man hae ju-se-yo | Just a manicure, please. |
| ํ๋ํ์ด๋ ์ถ๊ฐํ ๊ฒ์. | pe-di-kyo-eo-do chu-ga-hal-ge-yo | Iโll add a pedicure too. |
| ์ ๊ฑฐํด ์ฃผ์ธ์. | je-geo-hae ju-se-yo | Please remove it. |
| ์๊น์ ์ด๊ฑธ๋ก ํ ๊ฒ์. | saek-kkal-eun i-geol-lo hal-ge-yo | Iโll go with this color. |
๐ก Pro Tips for Visiting a Korean Nail Salon
- Appointments are often required, especially for popular salons.
- Bring reference photos to show designs or styles.
- Most places charge extra for nail art, stones, or extensions.
- Donโt forget to ask if the price includes removal or care services.
๐ฏ Practice Time!
Answer these questions in the comments to test your knowledge:
1๏ธโฃ What is the Korean word for โpedicureโ?
2๏ธโฃ How do you say โIโd like to make a nail appointmentโ in Korean?
3๏ธโฃ What does โ๋ค์ผ์ํธโ mean in English?
๐ Want to Learn More?
โ๏ธ Sauna & Bathhouse Vocabulary
โ๏ธ Haircut in Korean
โ๏ธ Church in Korean
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