What do 등원 and 하원 mean in Korean?

Korean parents don’t just “drop off” and “pick up” — they use a matched pair of verbs built on 원, the “garden” of 유치원 (kindergarten). 등원 (deungwon) is taking your child in; 하원 (hawon) is collecting them. The 등-/하- split literally means “up” versus “down,” the same mirror that turns 등교/하교 into going to and coming home from school.

In this daycare-adjustment vlog the parent narrates 열 시 등원했죠 (“dropped off at ten”) and 세 시간 뒤에 하원하러 갔는데요 (“went to pick up three hours later”). Both ride on 원 (園), the character inside 유치원; the school-age version swaps 원 for 교 (校), giving 등교/하교. Note for dictionary-divers: written on its own, 하원 usually surfaces as 下院, the “lower house” of a legislature — here it’s 下園, leaving the kindergarten. Context, not spelling, tells you whether it’s a toddler being fetched or a parliament in session.