TTMIK Level 8 Lesson 7

Published: April 26, 2012, 9:36 a.m.

Word Builder lessons are designed to help you understand how to expand your vocabulary by learning/understanding some common and basic building blocks of Korean words. The words and letters introduced through Word Builder lessons are not necessarily all Chinese characters, or 한자 [han-ja]. Though many of them are based on Chinese characters, the meanings can be different from modern-day Chinese. Your goal, through these lessons, is to understand how words are formed and remember the keywords in Korean to expand your Korean vocabulary from there.  You certainly don’t have to memorize the Hanja characters, but if you want to, feel free!

Today’s keyword is 점.

The Chinese character for this is 點. There are many other Chinese characters (or Hanja letters) that are used for 점, so keep in mind that not all the words that have 점 in them have related meanings.

The word 점 (點) is related to “point” or “spot”.

강 (strong) + 점 (point) = 강점 强點 [gang-jeom] = strong point, strength
약 (weak) + 점 (point) = 약점 弱點 [yak-jeom] = weakness, weak point
장 (long, head) + 점 (point) = 장점 長點 [jang-jeom] = advantage, merit, virtue
단 (short) + 점 (point) = 단점 短點 [dan-jeom] = drawback, shortcoming
초 (burn) + 점 (point) = 초점 焦點 [cho-jeom] = focus, focal point
점 (point) + 수 (number) = 점수 點數 [jeom-su] = score, mark, grade
문 (ask) + 제 (topic) + 점 (point) = 문제점 問題點 [mun-je-jeom] = problem, drawback
관 (view) + 점 (point) = 관점 觀點 [gwan-jeom] = point of view, viewpoint
요 (important) + 점 (point) = 요점 要點 [yo-jeom] = essential point, main point
공 (one) + 통 (go through, lead) + 점 (point) = 공통점 共通點 [gong-tong-jeom] = something in common, common factors
차 (differ) + 이 (differ) + 점 (point) = 차이점 差異點 [cha-i-jeom] = difference
원 (origin) + 점 (point) = 원점 原點 [won-jeom] = starting point, square one
학 (school, learn) + 점 (score) = 학점 學點 [hak-jeom] = school grade (usually college)
점 (point) + 자 (letter) = 점자 點字 [jeom-ja] = braille
득 (get) + 점 (point) = 득점 得點 [deuk-jeom] = score, make a score
점 (point) + 선 (line) = 점선 點線 [jeom-seon] = dotted line