Body part idioms

Idioms related to body parts

간

간 is the liver.

• 간이 콩알만 해 지다. (be scared stiff, be terrified/I cringed and got sick to my stomach./I was walking alone last night and the cat came out of nowhere, I got the fright of my life!)
• 간이 배 밖에 나왔다.

꼬리

꼬리 means tail.

• 쥐꼬리 - is a rat's tail and used for things that are really small, usually used in conjunction with the grammar 만 한.
  • 쥐꼬리만 한 월급 - a really small salary, getting paid peanuts.
  • 쥐꼬리만 한 돈 - a really small amount of money, chicken feed.

입

입 means mouth and sometimes lips.

• 입이 가볍다 - not good at keeping secrets, can't keep their mouth shut. literally means your lips are light.
• 입이 무겁다 - good at keeping secrets, holding your tongue. Literally means your lips are heavy.
• 입이 열 개라도 할 말이없다 - No words can justify my actions. Literally means even if I have ten mouths, I would have nothing to say.

눈

눈 means eye(s).

• 눈이 높다 - to have high standards, be picky
• 눈에 쌍심지를 켜다

머리

머리 is your head.

• 머리가 나쁘다 - to be stupid

속

• 속이 탄다 -

손

손 means hand

• 손바닥 보듯이 알다 - know something like the back of your hand. However the Korean version is actually says like the palm instead of the back of the hand. In many Asian cultures, people know their palms because the common belief that there's information of one's life in their palms, i.e. the length of the lines on one's palms shows how long a person will live.

쓸개

쓸개 means gallbladder.

• 간에 붙었다가 쓸개에 붙었다가 한다.

코

코 means nose.

혀

혀 means tongue.

• 혀가 꼬이다 -
• When you drink too much and you slur your words.
• Literally means one's tongue is tangled.

See also

• Body parts
• Body parts and actions