What does “굳이” mean in Korean?

굳이 is one of Korean’s most quietly useful adverbs, and English has no clean match for it. It flags an action as unnecessary or not worth the effort: doing something you don’t really have to. Say “굳이?” on its own and you’re asking “Why bother?” Pair it with a “have to” verb and it quietly questions the whole obligation, hinting you’d rather not.

Here it powers the clip’s whole argument: “굳이 어린이집을 보낼 필요가 있나?” — since they’re not a dual-income couple, do they even need to bother sending the kid to daycare? That pairing with 필요가 있다 (“need to”) is textbook 굳이: it doesn’t just say “no,” it questions why you’d go out of your way at all. A curveball for learners is the spelling. Written 굳이 (gud-i), it’s pronounced [구지 guji]: the final ㄷ shifts to ㅈ before the -이 ending, a sound change called 구개음화 (palatalization). So you read “gudi” but say “guji.” As a standalone reaction, a flat “굳이?” is a common, mildly sarcastic way to say “Was that really necessary?”