정말

jeongmal · TOPIK 1

really, truly

정말 = 正 (correct, true) + 말 (word, speech): a true word

정 comes from the hanja 正, meaning correct or true, and 말 is the native Korean word for speech. Saying 정말 literally vouches that your words are true, which is how it came to mean really or truly.

More Korean words · How Korean works