Korean word

고장

Pronunciation

Romanizationkojang

Meaning

  • nounbreakdown

Example

에어컨이 고장 나서 빨리 고쳐야 해요.e eo keo ni ko jang na seo ppal li ko cheo ya hae yo

The air conditioner broke down, so we need to fix it quickly.

Illustration for 고장 (breakdown)

More examples

버스가 고장 나서 한참 기다렸어요.peo seu ga ko jang na seo han cham ki da ryeo sseo yo

The bus broke down, so I waited for quite a while.

Core concept

A machine or device is blocked from doing its normal job.

Common phrases

  • 고장 이 나다ko jang i na da

    experience a breakdown

  • 고장 을 수리하다ko jang eul su ri ha da

    fix a malfunction

Similar words

망가짐manggajim: A broken object or machine cannot be used for its usual purpose.
오작동ojakttong: A machine or device behaves incorrectly instead of working as expected.
오류oryu: A computer system or program gives a wrong result or stops because of a problem.

Definition in Korean

기계나 장치가 제대로 작동하지 않는 상태를 이르는 명사.ki gye na chang chi ga che dae ro chak ttong ha ji an neun sang tae reul i reu neun myeong sa

Word origin

This Sino-Korean compound joins a word for a cause or fault with a word for an obstruction, creating the idea of function being blocked.

Usage tips

  • English often describes the machine as broken, while Korean commonly presents the breakdown as something that happens to it, so the surrounding verb matters.

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word