'가짜' means:

거짓을 참인 것처럼 꾸민 것. (Literally) A lie, untruth, fake disguised as truth.

'진짜' means:

본뜨거나 거짓으로 만들어 낸 것이 아닌 참된 것. (Literally) A real thing that is not copied or fabricated.

'가' in '가짜' uses '假' which is a Chinese character for untruth (lie) or fake and '진' in '진짜' uses '眞' which means truth or verity.

What does '짜' mean in those words? What is its etymology?


'짜' is a pure Korean root word meaning "thing; person."

Other words with '짜':

  • 알짜 the best thing; the essence
  • 공짜 a thing obtained without cost; free (of charge)
  • 괴짜 eccentric person
  • 퇴짜 rejection; brushing off

source: Handbook of Korean Vocabulary, pp. 374-375


Maybe 짜 is pure korean word. But its meaning is pretty well explained by Leftium. In most case it mean a thing or person. But the Thing is there is a word 子[자] that exactly means thing or person as well.

연산자[演算子][operator]=연산[operating/calculating]+자[thing] (in math)

인자[因子][factor/a thing that draws another phenomenon]=인[cause]+자[thing]

공자[孔子][Confucius]=공[deep & serious (internally)]+자[person]


The reason I'm saying this is that, 일자 is spoken like 일 for the rule of spelling. So somehow 짜 and 子, I guess, are relevent each other.

I have one more reason for my arguement. I think 8 out of ten korean can guess the meanings closely (I'm Korean) when 짜 is replaced with 子 in some casees above(괴짜, 진짜, 가짜, 퇴짜, 알짜) except for 공자.

  • 子 is a plausible etymology for 짜, even if it's considered pure Korean now. I never considered that. I just remembered seeing these words in my vocabulary book and copied the passages verbatim. I investigated a little more: Naver dictionary sometimes has etymologies (어원) but not for 가짜. Also 者(놈 자) and 字(글자 자) have been suggested as alternate origins for 짜 (in 공짜). – Leftium Aug 21 '16 at 1:54
  • right. actually, I thought somehow 者(놈 자) and 字(글자 자) can be relevant together but I know not any further except they(including 子) have same sound and except some of their usage. – JBL Aug 21 '16 at 3:06

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