What does “gibyeol” mean in Korean?

기별 is news passed to one particular person: 기별을 넣다 or 기별을 보내다, to send word. On its own it sounds slightly old-fashioned, but every Korean knows it from one idiom — 간에 기별도 안 간다, “word didn’t even reach my liver,” which is what you say when a portion of food is so small your body barely noticed it arrive.

The clip is a Joseon-era drama, and a nobleman closes the scene with 조만간 기별 넣을 테니 같이 연습합시다 — “I’ll send word soon, let’s practise together.” Historical dramas are full of messaging vocabulary; the one that trips learners up is 전갈, a spoken message carried by a servant, spelled exactly like the 전갈 that means “scorpion.”