떨어지다
tteo-reo-ji-da
Falling, failing, running out — one word does all three
The picture What was attached breaks loose and drops, and by that much it grows distant or is simply gone. 떨어지다 breaks a contact and the distance opens; 붙다 closes the distance until things touch.
Where the picture shows up in 떨어지다
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down out of the hand
컵이 떨어져서 깨졌어요.
keo-bi tteo-reo-jeo-seo kkae-jyeo-sseo-yo
The cup fell and broke.
The cup slipping between the fingers and dropping straight to the floor to shatter
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dropped off the list
이번 시험에 떨어졌어요.
i-beon si-heo-me tteo-reo-jeo-sseo-yo
I failed the exam this time.
A name tag that was stuck to the pass list coming unstuck and dropping to the ground
The exact opposite of 붙다. Your name failed to stick to the pass list and dropped off it.
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the supply runs out and is gone
쌀이 다 떨어졌어요.
ssa-ri da tteo-reo-jeo-sseo-yo
We're out of rice.
A scoop scraping the bottom of the rice bin and catching nothing
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the gap widens
회사가 집에서 좀 떨어져 있어요.
hoe-sa-ga ji-be-seo jom tteo-reo-jeo i-sseo-yo
The office is a bit far from my place.
Home and office as two dots with a long stretch of road drawn between them
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what clung to the body comes off
감기가 아직 안 떨어졌어요.
gam-gi-ga a-jik an tteo-reo-jeo-sseo-yo
This cold still hasn't left me.
A lump of cold still clinging to the body, refusing to come off
All of it in one picture
떨어지다 is one picture: what was attached comes loose and moves away. The cup lets go of the hand and hits the floor; the name comes off the list and you have failed; the rice comes off the shelf and there is none left; home and office pull apart and the commute is long; the cold will not come off the body and you are still ill. So wherever 떨어지다 goes, a hold has been let go and a distance has opened up.