좁다
jop-da
Why 'it's a small world' is the same picture as a cramped room
The picture The two sides are pressed close, leaving barely enough room to get in. 좁다 is sides pressed close with room running out; 넓다 is sides far apart with room left over.
Where the picture shows up in 좁다
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the walls are close
방이 좁아서 침대가 안 들어가요.
bang-i jo-ba-seo chim-dae-ga an deu-reo-ga-yo
The room is too small for the bed to fit.
You carry the bed in upright, it catches on both walls, and you stop in the doorway
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the sides of a lane close in
골목이 좁으니까 천천히 가세요.
gol-mo-gi jo-beu-ni-kka cheon-cheon-hi ga-se-yo
The alley is narrow, so drive slowly.
An alley where the car's mirrors pass the walls on both sides close enough to graze them
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a shoe closing on the foot
이 구두는 저한테 좁습니다.
i gu-du-neun jeo-han-te jop-seum-ni-da
These shoes are too tight for me.
You push your foot in and the leather squeezes both sides until your toes overlap
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no room left inside the heart
제가 마음이 좁아서 화를 냈어요.
je-ga ma-eu-mi jo-ba-seo hwa-reul nae-sseo-yo
I lost my temper because I'm small-minded.
The inside of the heart is packed full, so even one small remark has nowhere to go and bounces back out
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a few steps and you've touched the edge
세상이 참 좁네요.
se-sang-i cham jom-ne-yo
It really is a small world.
You arrive somewhere unfamiliar, walk a few steps, meet a face you know, and the world feels like one room
The set phrase for running into someone you know by chance.
All of it in one picture
좁다 is one picture: the two sides are pressed close. Walls close in and the bed will not go in; alley walls close in and a car only just squeezes past. Leather closing on a foot hurts, and a heart with no room left flares up at a small remark. And 'the world is 좁다' draws a world you walk a few steps in before you touch a face you know.