What is '사주' in Korean fortune-telling?
죽음을 부르는 소원 앱, 넌 사용할래?
B1 Korean listening practice · Standard Korean · Picked for people who know some
사주 (saju) is the Korean four-pillar reading: year, month, day, and hour of birth, plugged into a centuries-old Chinese-cosmology chart. Koreans turn to a 사주 reading before a wedding (compatibility), when naming a baby, before a job change, or just out of curiosity. Asking for someone’s 사주 is asking for the deepest signature they have.
This K-drama clip stages 사주 as the price of admission for a deadly wish-granting app: « 네 사주랑 이름부터 종이에 써야 돼 » (start with your 사주 and name on paper). The horror twist: once the app has your 사주, it has you. Real Korean fortune-tellers run on the same data, minus the pact-with-death.
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Harder words in this video
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Korean drama plots on Netflix and TVING where characters consult a 사주 reader before marriage or a major choice
- ▸At Seoul fortune-teller streets like 미아리 점성촌 (Miari fortune-teller village) and 압구정 사주카페 (Apgujeong saju cafes) where customers pay for hour-long 사주 readings
- ▸On Korean fortune-telling apps like 점신 (Jeomsin) and 포치스 다이어리 via the Google Play Store and Apple App Store
- ▸In Korean wedding-planning communities on 네이버 카페 and Daum discussion boards when couples check 궁합 (compatibility) using both partners' 사주