붙다
but-da
When you pass an exam in Korean, what exactly are you sticking to?
The picture Two separate things meet, the gap between them vanishes, and it now takes force to part them. 붙다 closes the gap until two things touch; 떨어지다 breaks the touch and the gap opens.
Where the picture shows up in 붙다
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paper meets wall
벽에 안내문이 붙어 있어요.
byeo-ge an-nae-mu-ni bu-teo i-sseo-yo
There's a notice stuck on the wall.
The back of the notice pressed to the wall until no gap is left between paper and plaster
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my name lands on the pass side
드디어 시험에 붙었어요!
deu-di-eo si-heo-me bu-teo-sseo-yo
I finally passed the exam!
My name tag floating over and clamping itself onto the pass list
Pass lists used to be pasted on a wall. Your name sticking there became the word for passing.
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two places touch
우리 집은 시장에 붙어 있어요.
u-ri ji-beun si-jang-e bu-teo i-sseo-yo
Our place is right up against the market.
Our wall and the market wall with not even a finger width between them
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a person won't come off
아이가 엄마한테만 붙어 있어요.
a-i-ga eom-ma-han-te-man bu-teo i-sseo-yo
The child clings only to her mother.
A child with both arms wrapped around her mother leg, not coming off
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a charge sticks onto a price
요금에 수수료가 붙어요.
yo-geu-me su-su-ryo-ga bu-teo-yo
A fee gets tacked onto the charge.
The fee figure sliding up against the fare figure until they read as one line
All of it in one picture
붙다 is the picture of a gap disappearing until two things touch as one. Paper touches wall and it is posted; a name touches the pass side and you are in; wall touches wall and the market is right there; a child touches her mother and will not be peeled off; a figure touches a figure and the bill grows. So wherever 붙다 goes, the space between is gone and the two travel as one until something forces them apart.