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Hanja Lesson 43: 費, 價, 元, 富, 錢

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In this lesson, you will learn five Hanja characters related to money!


費 = 비 = Fee/Expense/Bill
Korean name: 쓸 비)

You will see this character attached to a variety of nouns referring the to the fee for using that noun. A common example is attaching 費 to 가스 to refer to the fee for using gas (heating) in one’s home.

費用 = cost, expense
= tuition
가스費 = gas bill (the word 가스 is of English origin and therefore can’t be represented using Hanja)
生活費 = living expenses
交通費  = transportation fees/expenses
敎育費 = education fee, school fee
  = business expenses
費 = school food fee


價 = 가 = Price/Cost/Value
(Korean name: 값 가)

原價 = production cost (what something costs before markup is added)
物價 = the price of items, products
  = the lowest price
  = retail price
= wholesale price
價격 = price
평價  = evaluation
기준價 = standard price


元 = 원 = money/origin
(Korean name: 으뜸 원)

This character is the unit of the Korean currency denomination, 원. Traditionally, you would see things in Korea prices the 元 next to the number, but these days that almost never happens. This is the same character that is used to refer to the unit of currency in China, pronounced “yuan.”

In addition to referring to the unit of currency, 元 can also refer to origins or beginnings.

元金 = capital
元래 = originally
元소 = element


富 = 부 = rich/abundant
(Korean name: 부유할 부)

= a rich country
富者 = a rich person
하다 = to be rich
= rich and poor
富하다 = to be abundant
富귀 = wealth, riches
富유층 = upper class, wealthy class


錢 = 전 = money/currency
(Korean name: 돈 전)

金錢 = finances
本錢 = principle, original money
換錢 = exchange currency
동錢 = coin

Stay tuned for the next lesson to see the meaning of 동 to better understand why 동錢 means “coin!”