Family in Korean, Who Is Related to Whom?

Family in Korean, Who Is Related to Whom?

가족 (gajok) means family. Individual relationships have their own terms, but a family word is not a permanent label attached to one person. 민수의 이모 means Minsu’s maternal aunt, not necessarily the speaker’s aunt.

There are two tasks when using these words: identifying the relationship in a description and deciding how to address the person.

Family members in Korean, a starting reference

Word	Reading cue	Relationship
아버지	abeoji	Father
어머니	eomeoni	Mother
아들	adeul	Son
딸	ttal	Daughter
이모	imo	Mother’s sister
고모	gomo	Father’s sister
조카	joka	Nephew or niece

The two aunt words identify a different route through the family. Neither 이모 nor 고모 says that the aunt is older than the parent. A mother’s younger sister is still 이모; a father’s older sister is still 고모.

Some family words can describe a relationship or address the person directly. The Korean Basic Dictionary describes 이모 as a word for referring to or addressing a mother’s sister.

Start with the person named before the relationship

Suppose a photo caption reads:

민수의 이모
Minsu’s maternal aunt

Start with Minsu. Move to his mother, then to her sister. The caption does not tell you how the person writing it is related to that woman.

Now compare two descriptions containing the same aunt word:

• 민수의 고모 — Minsu’s father’s sister.
• 민수 어머니의 고모 — Minsu’s mother’s father’s sister.

In the second phrase, the person whose 고모 is being described is 민수 어머니, Minsu’s mother. Starting from Minsu and immediately choosing his father’s sister would skip the word 어머니. The extra relationship changes which generation you reach.

The phrase describes the relationship, but it does not tell you what Minsu normally calls her.

Korean family terms in a description and a direct call

Imagine an adult introducing a young nephew named Minsu to a visitor.

제 조카 민수예요.
This is my nephew, Minsu.

The adult is explaining the relationship to the visitor. Here, 조카 identifies Minsu as a nephew. If the relative were a niece, the same relationship word could still apply.

The adult then turns to the child:

민수야, 여기 앉아.
Minsu, sit here.

The adult now calls Minsu directly by name. The particle 야 follows the vowel-ending name 민수 in this familiar adult-to-child exchange; it is not a form to attach automatically to an unfamiliar adult’s name.

In its 2019 guide to forms of address, the National Institute of Korean Language says nieces and nephews are generally addressed by name. It also allows 조카 or 조카님 when the person is married or is being given particular consideration.

The official 2019 guide, 우리, 뭐라고 부를까요? is in Korean. The section on nieces and nephews spans printed pages 33–34.

Read this caption before choosing a greeting

A new caption says 소라 어머니의 이모. Whose mother’s sister does 이모 identify here? Does the caption alone establish what Sora should say when greeting her?

Check the relationship

Start with Sora’s mother. Her 이모 is her mother’s sister: Sora’s maternal grandmother’s sister. The caption does not specify the family’s chosen greeting. Replacing it with “Sora’s mother’s sister” would remove one generation from the description.