๐Ÿค’ Illness & Disease in Korean: 50+ Must-Know Words & Common Expressions

Learn how to talk about health, sickness, and medical conditions in Korean!

Whether you’re visiting a hospital in Korea, describing your symptoms, or watching a K-drama with medical scenes, it’s essential to know how to express common illnesses and health conditions in Korean.

In this post, you’ll learn 50+ essential Korean health-related vocabulary terms and practical expressions, complete with pronunciation and English translations. ๐Ÿฅ๐Ÿ’ฌ


๐Ÿฉบ Common Illnesses and Health Conditions in Korean

KoreanPronunciationEnglish
๊ฐ๊ธฐgam-giCold
๋…๊ฐdok-gamFlu
๊ธฐ์นจgi-chimCough
์—ดyeolFever
๋‘ํ†ตdu-tongHeadache
๋ณตํ†ตbok-tongStomachache
๊ทผ์œกํ†ตgeu-nyuk-tongMuscle pain
๋ชฉ ์•„ํ””mok a-peumSore throat
์ฝง๋ฌผkot-mulRunny nose
์ฝ”๋ง‰ํž˜ko-mak-himStuffy nose
์„ค์‚ฌseol-saDiarrhea
๋ณ€๋น„byeon-biConstipation
ํ”ผ๋ถ€์—ผpi-bu-yeomDermatitis
์•Œ๋ ˆ๋ฅด๊ธฐal-le-reu-giAllergy
์ฒœ์‹cheon-sikAsthma
๋‹น๋‡จ๋ณ‘dang-nyo-byeongDiabetes
๊ณ ํ˜ˆ์••go-hyeol-apHigh blood pressure
์ €ํ˜ˆ์••jeo-hyeol-apLow blood pressure
ํ๋ ดpye-ryeomPneumonia
๊ธฐ๊ด€์ง€์—ผgi-gwan-ji-yeomBronchitis
์‹ฌ์žฅ๋ณ‘sim-jang-byeongHeart disease
์•”amCancer
์šฐ์šธ์ฆu-ul-jeungDepression
๋ถˆ๋ฉด์ฆbul-myeon-jeungInsomnia
์‹์ค‘๋…sik-jung-dokFood poisoning

๐Ÿ‘จโ€โš•๏ธ Symptoms & Medical Descriptions

KoreanPronunciationEnglish
์•„ํ”„๋‹คa-peu-daTo be sick / hurt
์—ด์ด ๋‚˜๋‹คyeol-i na-daTo have a fever
๊ธฐ์นจํ•˜๋‹คgi-chim-ha-daTo cough
๋‘ํ†ต์ด ์žˆ๋‹คdu-tong-i it-daTo have a headache
๋ฐฐ๊ฐ€ ์•„ํ”„๋‹คbae-ga a-peu-daStomach hurts
ํ”ผ๊ณคํ•˜๋‹คpi-gon-ha-daTo be tired
๋ฌด๊ธฐ๋ ฅํ•˜๋‹คmu-gi-ryeok-ha-daTo feel weak
๊ตฌ์—ญ์งˆ ๋‚˜๋‹คgu-yeok-jil na-daTo feel nauseous
์–ด์ง€๋Ÿฝ๋‹คeo-ji-reop-daTo feel dizzy
์ˆจ์ด ์ฐจ๋‹คsum-i cha-daTo be short of breath

๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ Useful Korean Phrases for Talking About Illness

KoreanPronunciationEnglish
์–ด๋”” ์•„ํŒŒ์š”?eo-di a-pa-yo?Are you feeling sick?
๋ชธ์ด ์•ˆ ์ข‹์•„์š”.mom-i an jo-a-yoI donโ€™t feel well.
์—ด์ด ์žˆ์–ด์š”.yeol-i it-seo-yoI have a fever.
๊ธฐ์นจ์ด ๋‚˜์š”.gi-chim-i na-yoIโ€™m coughing.
๋จธ๋ฆฌ๊ฐ€ ์•„ํŒŒ์š”.meo-ri-ga a-pa-yoI have a headache.
๋ฐฐ๊ฐ€ ์•„ํŒŒ์š”.bae-ga a-pa-yoMy stomach hurts.
๋ณ‘์›์— ๊ฐ€์•ผ ํ•ด์š”.byeong-won-e ga-ya hae-yoI need to go to the hospital.
์•ฝ๊ตญ์ด ์–ด๋””์˜ˆ์š”?yak-guk-i eo-di-ye-yo?Where is the pharmacy?
์ด ์•ฝ์„ ๋จน์–ด์•ผ ํ•ด์š”.i yak-eul meog-eo-ya hae-yoYou need to take this medicine.
๋งŽ์ด ์‰ฌ์„ธ์š”.ma-ni swi-se-yoGet plenty of rest.

๐Ÿงช Bonus: At the Doctorโ€™s Office Vocabulary

KoreanPronunciationEnglish
๋ณ‘์›byeong-wonHospital
์•ฝ๊ตญyak-gukPharmacy
์˜์‚ฌui-saDoctor
๊ฐ„ํ˜ธ์‚ฌgan-ho-saNurse
ํ™˜์žhwan-jaPatient
์ง„์ฐฐjin-chalMedical check-up
์น˜๋ฃŒchi-ryoTreatment
์•ฝyakMedicine
์ฃผ์‚ฌju-saInjection
์ฒ˜๋ฐฉ์ „cheo-bang-jeonPrescription

๐ŸŽฏ Practice Time!

Try using these sentences in real conversations or write them in your journal:
1๏ธโƒฃ โ€œI have a coldโ€ in Korean is?
2๏ธโƒฃ How do you say โ€œMy stomach hurtsโ€ in Korean?
3๏ธโƒฃ Whatโ€™s the word for โ€œmedicineโ€ in Korean?

Comment your answers below! ๐Ÿ‘‡


๐Ÿ“š Want to Learn More?

โœ”๏ธ Recycling in Korean
โœ”๏ธ Fishing in Korean
โœ”๏ธ Emotions in Korean


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