About this tool
Korean Food Initials Quiz is a free daily puzzle in which you guess a Korean dish from its choseong, the first consonants of each syllable.
For example, ㄱㅂㅂ is gimbap and ㄸㅂㅇ is tteokbokki. In Korea this kind of initial-consonant quiz is a classic game, and here it is turned into a once-a-day challenge that everyone plays on the same puzzle.
If you love K-food, Korean words or a daily food guessing game, this is a tasty way to learn. How do you play? You see the initials of today's dish and the number of syllables.
Type your guess in Korean (or in romanization such as gimbap, if you are playing in English) and press the button.
Each letter turns green if it is in the right place, yellow if it is in the dish but somewhere else, and gray if it is not there at all.
Every wrong guess opens a new hint: first the food category, then the English name, then the first syllable, and finally the last syllable. You have six tries. Where do the dishes come from?
The pool holds more than 260 everyday foods and café items popular in Korea: rice dishes, noodles, soups and stews, meat, seafood, street snacks, side dishes and pancakes, sweets and breads, and drinks.
The page walks through the whole pool in a fixed shuffled order, so a dish does not come back until every other dish has had its turn.
The puzzle is chosen from the date on your device, and a countdown shows when the next one arrives. Q: I do not read Korean, can I still play? A: Yes.
The English page shows the romanized initials, the syllable count and an English description as hints, and it accepts the romanized spelling, the English name or the Hangul. Q: What is the emoji grid?
A: When you finish, you get a grid of green, yellow and gray squares to paste to friends without spoiling the answer. Q: Is the spelling strict? A: Spaces are ignored, but each syllable must match.
This quiz is made for fun and for learning a little Korean food vocabulary. Dish names and romanization can vary between menus and regions, so treat the answers as friendly guesses, not an official dictionary.
Your streak and guesses stay in your browser only.
How to use
- Read today's initials and syllable count, then type a guess in Korean (or romanization such as gimbap).
- Green means the right letter in the right place, yellow means right letter elsewhere. Each miss opens a hint.
- Solve it within 6 tries, share your emoji grid, and come back tomorrow for a new dish.