What does “daegu” mean in Korean?

The fish 대구 is written 大口, “big mouth,” for the obvious reason. Korea’s fourth-largest city is also 대구, but with different characters: 大邱, “great hill.” Hangul spells the two identically, so 대구 on a menu is Pacific cod while 대구 on a train ticket is a city, and only context tells them apart. Cod fillet is 대구살.

The clip is a cook preparing 대구살 for baby food, with carrot, seaweed and onion going into the pot, and the mild fish chopped rather than blended so the texture survives. Cod is a winter fish in Korea: 대구탕 is the clear soup, 대구전 the egg-battered pan-fried version served at holidays.