동생: the younger sibling, and how everyone above you gets a name

The full set, in one table

Look at who is speaking, not who is being talked about. A man speaking to a younger man uses 형 for the older one and 동생 for the younger. A man speaking to a younger woman uses 누나 for the older one. A woman speaking to a younger man uses 오빠. A woman speaking to a younger woman uses 언니.

Written as a grid, the whole family vocabulary is four words plus one: 누나, 언니, 오빠, 형, 동생. Everything else in Korean kinship — 여동생, 남동생, 누이, 제자, 사촌 — is a variation on this idea.

• 누나 — older sister, said by a man
• 언니 — older sister, said by a woman
• 오빠 — older brother, said by a woman
• 형 — older brother, said by a man
• 동생 — younger sibling, said by anyone (to a man or a woman)

동생 as a term of endearment

There is a second meaning worth knowing: 동생 also means a junior member of a group, and it is used affectionately among friends of different ages. A close friend group might call its youngest member 동생 regardless of gender, and it carries the same warmth as calling someone "the kid" in English.

You will also hear people call themselves 동생 in self-deprecating ways — 집에서 동생이에요 means "I'm the youngest at home," which is a common way to explain your place in a family.

Family words beyond siblings

Once you know the grid, the in-law vocabulary becomes guessable. 시아버지 is your husband's father and 매어머니 is your wife's mother — both end in a parent word, so learning one parent term teaches the other. 처남 is the husband of your sister, 도련님 is a young man spoken about with respect, and 곰돌이 is a bear cub, which is a family nickname for the youngest.

Korean kinship is unusually fine-grained because family structure and age hierarchy do most of the social work in a hierarchical language. Learning the grid properly is worth more effort than memorising twenty disconnected terms.

Phrases you will actually say

• 저는 둘째 동생이에요

  jeoneun dulrrae dongsaeng-ieyo

  🔈

  I'm the second youngest.

• 동생이 세 명 있어요

  dongsaeng-i se myeong isseoyo

  🔈

  I have three younger siblings.

• 동생한테 줄 게

  dongsaeng-hante jul ge

  🔈

  I'll give it to my younger sibling.

• 동생이 제일 작아요

  dongsaeng-i jeil jakayo

  🔈

  My younger sibling is the smallest.

• 저는 남동생이에요

  jeoneun namdongsaeng-ieyo

  🔈

  I'm the younger brother.

• 저는 여동생이에요

  jeoneun yeodongsaeng-ieyo

  🔈

  I'm the younger sister.

Questions people actually ask

Keep going

• Noona — older sister, said by a man →
• Unnie — older sister, said by a woman →
• Honorifics and titles lab →
• The honorifics lesson →