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The core of the Koréan vocabulary is made up of native Koréan words. More than 50% of the vocabulary (up to 70% by some estimates), however, especially scholarly terminology, are Sino-Korean words, either

directly borrowed from Chinese written language, or

coined in Koréa using Chinese characters.

Koréan has two number systems: one native, and one borrowed from the Chinese.

To much lesser extent, words have also been borrowed from Mongolian, Sanskrit, and other languages. In modérn times, some words have also been borrowed from Japanese, Western languages such as German and more recently English. Concerning daily usage vocabulary except what can be written in hanja, more words have possibly been borrowed from English than from any other language.

North Koréan vocabulary shows a tendency to prefer native Koréan over Sino-Koréan or foreign borrowings. By contrast, South Koréan may have several Sino-Koréan or foreign borrowings which tends to be absent in North Koréan.