Months of the Year in Korean

월Every Korean month is just a number + 월 (wol). You don’t memorise twelve words — you count to twelve and learn two exceptions.

Months

월

Suffix

Exceptions

Sino

Numbers

All 12 months — tap to hear

Tap any card to hear it spoken in Korean. The two marked · (June, October) are the only irregular spellings.

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A listening drill: hear a Korean month, tap the English name. How long a streak can you hold?

Tap Start, listen, then pick the month you heard.

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The whole system in one line

Where English has twelve unrelated names to learn — January, February, and so on — Korean (like Japanese and Mandarin) is purely numerical. Take the Sino-Korean number and add 월: il (1) + wol = 1월 (ilwol, January); sam (3) + wol = 3월 (samwol, March). Learn to count to twelve and you have effectively learned all twelve months.

In everyday writing the number itself is used — 1월, not the spelled-out 일월 — so the digits you already know carry almost all the weight.

The only two you must watch

Two months drop a consonant so they roll off the tongue:

June is 유월 (yuwol), not yukwol — the k of yuk (6) is dropped.
October is 시월 (siwol), not sipwol — the p of sip (10) is dropped.

Every other month keeps its number exactly. These two are the entire list of surprises.

Sino-Korean vs Native Korean numbers

Korean has two number systems, and months use the Sino-Korean set (il, i, sam, sa…), borrowed long ago from Chinese. The same set handles dates, years, money and minutes. The separate Native Korean set (hana, dul, set…) is for counting objects and telling the hour — so 3 o’clock uses a native number while “March” uses a Sino one. For the calendar, you only ever need the Sino-Korean numbers above.

A calendar built on the moon

The character 월 means both “month” and “moon” — a trace of the lunar calendars these systems grew from. Modern South Korea runs on the Gregorian calendar for daily life and business, but the biggest celebrations still follow the lunar cycle: Seollal (Lunar New Year) and Chuseok (the autumn harvest festival) move against the Gregorian dates each year.

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Frequently asked questions

How do you say the months in Korean?

Each month is a Sino-Korean number plus the suffix 월 (wol), meaning month. January is 1월 (ilwol), February is 2월 (iwol), and so on through December, 12월 (sibiwol).

Why is October siwol and not sipwol?

June and October drop a consonant for smoother pronunciation: June is 유월 (yuwol) rather than yukwol, and October is 시월 (siwol) rather than sipwol. They are the only two irregular months.

Which number system is used for months?

The Sino-Korean numbers (il, i, sam…) are used for months, dates and years. The Native Korean numbers (hana, dul, set…) are used for counting objects and telling the hour.

What does 월 mean in Korean?

It means month, and the same character also means moon — a reminder that calendars began with lunar cycles.

Do Koreans write the month as a word or a number?

Almost always as a number: 1월, not 일월. The spelled-out Hangul form is rare in everyday writing.

Sources & notes

Romanisation follows the Revised Romanization of Korean (the official South Korean standard).
The June/October consonant drops (유월, 시월) are standard Sino-Korean month forms.
Audio uses your browser’s built-in Korean (ko-KR) text-to-speech voice when one is installed.

Months of the year in Japanese ›Months of the year in Mandarin Chinese ›Numbers 1 to 10 in Korean ›Days of the week in Japanese ›How many weeks in a year ›How many days in each month ›

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Twelve months, one suffix, two exceptions — the most forgiving calendar a learner ever meets.