Need help understanding 퇴근 I just learned the word "퇴근" (leave the office, leave work, get off work, come[go] home from work) Is there a word for "leaving home to go to work"? Also, I'm trying to un

Richard S.

Need help understanding 퇴근 I just learned the word "퇴근" (leave the office, leave work, get off work, come[go] home from work) Is there a word for "leaving home to go to work"? Also, I'm trying to understand the meaning of "퇴근" more clearly. I'm wondering whether the emphasis is on "leaving the office (to go home)" or "coming home (after work)". I think the emphasis is on "coming home" not on "leaving work". Is this right? For example, if I leave the office but I'm not going home right away (or not going home today) because I'm going to eat dinner first and meet friends at a bar, would I still say 퇴근? I will go home eventually but not right away. If I'm coming home from school rather than from work, would I say 퇴근? Or is there a different word to use for coming home from school? In Chinese, there are pairs of words for - go to school/leave school (上学/下学) and - go to work/leave work (上班/下班) Does Korean have anything like this? 감사합니다!

Mar 5, 2015 6:52 PM

Answers · 8

"leaving home to go to work"? 출근 출근(出勤)은 한자어 입니다. A word made of two chinese characters. Therefore, you can deduce a meaning out of words like these. Let's look at the word, character by character. 出(날 출) - 나다(sprout), 나가다(leave, go out), 떠나다(leave, depart), 내쫓다(kick sb. out, expel) 勤(부지런할 근) - 부지런하다(industrious), 근무하다(work), 힘쓰다(make an effort) 출근 - 일을 나가다 (leave for work) 出勤 = (leave for)(work)

March 5, 2015

You can say 퇴근(退勤) even if you're not going home right away after work. The emphasis is on 'leaving the office' not 'coming home' And if you're coming home from 'school', in which case you can't say 퇴근 but "하교" - 하교 (下校) : 공부를 끝내고 학교에서 집으로 돌아옴. Note. There is a word for 'coming home', 귀가(歸家) Example: 그 회사원은 퇴근 후 귀가중이었다. (The employee was coming home from work.)

March 5, 2015

퇴근 + 하다 = leave the office , get off work ...etc if I leave the office but I'm not going home right away (or not going home today) because I'm going to eat dinner first and meet friends at a bar, would I still say 퇴근? I will go home eventually but not right away. 퇴근했다. You are right

March 5, 2015

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