[KWotD] – 고정 관념 – “stereotype”

Meaning of 고정 관념

고정 관념 – stereotype, fixed idea

This word translates somewhat directly to English if you think of it as “fixed idea.” (고정 = fixed, 관념 = idea, concept). The dictionaries will describe this word as an idea or thought that doesn’t easily change. As you might be able to guess if you are well familiar with the Korean language, this is a sino-Korean word (meaning that it comes from the Chinese language). If you’re interested in knowing more about the hanja characters, I’d recommend heading over to Naver and hover over the hanja on that page.

The usage is rather easy but you probably wouldn’t be able to guess on your own what words to pair this up with, so here are some examples on how it’s used.

고정 관념을 갖다/지니다 – To have stereotypes.

고정관념을 깨다/ -에서 벗어나다 – The literal meaning is “to break stereotype” or “to escape/break free of” but it’s also used as “to think outside the box.” Because of that, you can say things like “고정관념을 깬 제품” which would refer to an “innovative product”

Maybe you want to say “stereotypes about NOUN” or describe the type of fixed idea. In that scenario, you could use N-에 대한… or N-인…

Not necessarily negative

Also, note that these “fixed ideas” does not necessarily have to be negative. For example, you could say:

난 아시아에 대한 긍정적인 고정관념을 갖고 있다 – I have positive stereotypes about Asia.

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By Kimchi Cloud