Korea
/kəˈɹiːə/US/kəˈɹi.ə/
Korea proper noun: a geographic region in East Asia, consisting of two countries, commonly known as South Korea and North Korea; formerly a single country.
Proper noun
Korea (countable and uncountable, plural Koreas)
- A geographic region in East Asia, consisting of two countries, commonly known as South Korea and North Korea; formerly a single country.
- After the death of the empreſs Papûſha he had been baniſhed into Korea, from whence he was removed to Quey-lin Fû, the capital of Quang-ſi.1780, “The Hiſtory of Jenghîz Khan's Succeſſors in Tartary and China”, in The Modern Part of an Univerſal History from the Earlieſt Accounts to the Preſent Time, volume IV, page 297
- Then I told the delegates of the trip which I had taken with my wife, Jane, into Korea on the previous Thanksgiving, and of how I had celebrated my seventy-fourth birthday on the snowy mountains of Korea, eating from a mess kit with the men in uniform.1954, Alben W. Barkley, “What Happened at Chicago”, in That Reminds Me, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 246
- South Korea: A country in East Asia, comprising the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.
- North Korea: A country in East Asia, whose territory consists of the northern part of Korea.
- A peninsula in East Asia, containing the countries of North Korea and South Korea; in full, Korean Peninsula.
Korea meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
Korea in Hindi
- ancient country or both Koreas as a whole
- कोरिया koriyā
Korea in Tamil
- ancient country or both Koreas as a whole
- கொரியா koriyā
Korea in Marathi
- ancient country or both Koreas as a whole
- कोरिया koriyā
Korea in Urdu
- ancient country or both Koreas as a whole
- کورِیا koriyā
More languagesFewer languages
- Korea in Bengali
- কোরিয়া kōriẏa
- Korea in Telugu
- కొరియా koriyā
- Korea in Malayalam
- കൊറിയ koṟiya
- Korea in Kannada
- ಕೊರಿಯಾ koriyā
- Korea in Punjabi
- ਕੋਰੀਆ korīā
- Korea in Gujarati
- કોરિયા koriyā
- Korea in Odia
- କୋରିଆ koriā
- Korea in Sanskrit
- कोरिया koriyā
- Korea in Sinhala
- කොරියාව koriyāwa
- Korea in Assamese
- কোৰিয়া küria
- Korea in Nepali
- कोरिया koriyā
- Korea in Pashto
- کوريا koryã
- Korea in Tagalog
- Korea
- Korea in Arabic
- كُورْيَا kūryā, كُورِيَا kūriyā
- Korea in Malay
- Korea
- Korea in Indonesian
- Korea
- Korea in Thai
- เกาหลี gao-lǐi
- Korea in Vietnamese
- Cao Ly, Cao Lệ, Triều Tiên, Hàn Quốc
- Korea in Myanmar
- ကိုရီးယား kuiri:ya:
- Dhivehi
- ކޮރެއާ koreā
Forms of Korea
| plural | Koreas |
|---|---|
| alternative form (archaic) | Corea |
Origin of Korea
First attested as Core in the 1598 English translation of the 1596 Itinerario of Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, from the original Dutch Core, itself from Portuguese according to van Linschoten's account. The spelling Corea was more common in Early Modern English, likely through Core + -ia. Ultimately a sixteenth-century borrowing by Europeans from some variety of Chinese. Compare Mandarin 高麗 /高丽 (Gāolí) but especially Hokkien 高麗 /高丽 (Ko-lê), which matches the Dutch-Portuguese vowels exactly. These are Chinese pronunciations of Sino-Korean 고려(高麗) (Goryeo), Korea's official name between 918 and 1394 and still used by Chinese people to refer to the country for centuries thereafter; this itself being a shortening of 高句麗 (“Goguryeo”), an ancient Korean kingdom in the first millennium. Doublet of Goryeo, directly from Korean. Some Korean authors claim an Arabic intermediary instead, but this is impossible because the actual medieval Arabic word for Korea was a variant of السيلى (al-sīlā, see also Silla).
Words formed from Korea
Phrases with Korea
Words that rhyme with Korea
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- Anthea
- Caesarea
- hamartia
- Hosea
- Leah
- logorrhea
- maria
- panacea
- Sandia
- Theia
- trachea
- Zia
- Achaea
- Alethea
- carry the message to Garcia
- chia
- chorea
- diarrhea
- Hygieia
- mens rea
- pharmacopoeia
- pro-mia
- quesadilla
- ratafia
- sangria
- shea
- Shi'a
- tortilla
- urea
- Aeaea
- Apamea
- apatheia
- Aramea
- Arimathea
- avania
- cinquedea
- Corea
- deliver the message to Garcia
- dionaea
- dyspnea
- Euboea
- eupatheia
- Euryclea
- Fawzia
- gelateria
- glossopoeia
- gonorrhea
- Hialeah
Questions about Korea
- What does Korea mean?
- Korea means a geographic region in East Asia, consisting of two countries, commonly known as South Korea and North Korea; formerly a single country.
- What is Korea in Hindi?
- Korea in Hindi is कोरिया (koriyā). See Korea meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is Korea?
- Korea is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce Korea?
- Korea is pronounced /kəˈɹi.ə/ (US).
Words near Korea in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Korea (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-Korea.wav.
Cite this entry: “Korea.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/korea. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.