청첩장 (cheongcheopjang) — The Card That Only Goes to Weddings, and How It Differs from 초대장
청첩장
청첩장 (cheongcheopjang) literally means “a card with writing on it asking someone to come to a wedding.” Open an English dictionary and you’ll see invitation card — but take that translation at face value and you’ll run into trouble before long. In Korean, 청첩장 is not a word for invitations in general. It doesn’t go out for birthday parties, or housewarmings, or exhibition openings. There is essentially one occasion this card arrives for: a wedding.
That’s why, for Koreans, a 청첩장 carries more weight than a single sheet of paper. Receiving one means you’ve been told, “I consider you close enough to invite into a scene of my life” — and at the same time that you’ll need to clear your schedule that day and prepare a cash-gift envelope. The giver is just as careful. Hand out too many and you become the person who scattered obligations around; leave out someone who should have received one and the hurt lingers. That’s why people with a wedding coming up sit in front of a guest list agonizing over it for days. 청첩장 is a card that draws a line through your relationships.
This post follows where that line gets drawn. Why a 청첩장 can’t go to a housewarming, why Koreans go out of their way to hand one over face to face, and how the verbs that pair with this noun change its temperature.
Checking the National Institute of Korean Language dictionary
First, let’s see how the national institute’s dictionary defines the word.
청첩장 「noun」 A card written to invite people to a wedding, etc. — National Institute of Korean Language, Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr)
Here is how the dictionary renders it in other languages.
- English: invitation card; invitation letter — A card written to invite people to a wedding, etc.
- Japanese: しょうたいじょう【招待状】 — 結婚式などに人を招請する文を書いたカード。
- Spanish: tarjeta de invitación — Tarjeta que invita a otra persona a una boda.
- Chinese: 请帖，喜帖，请柬，喜柬 — 为了邀请客人参加婚礼等活动而发的礼仪性书信。 — National Institute of Korean Language, Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr)
The dictionary carries no Portuguese gloss, so we supplied one — convite de casamento, a card sent to invite someone to a wedding. That one line alone is our own translation, not a translation published in the dictionary.
That little “etc.” in the definition — “a wedding, etc.” — trips learners up constantly. The dictionary is leaving room for major ceremonies that could stand alongside a wedding; it is not opening the door to every kind of invitation. In actual Korean, it’s safer to think of the 청첩장 as belonging to weddings, full stop.
Now let’s look at the real usage examples the dictionary lists. These sentences show you exactly where this word travels.
우리는 결혼을 한 달 앞두고 친지들에게 청첩장을 돌렸다. (Urineun gyeorheoneul han dal apdugo chinjideurege cheongcheopjangeul dollyeotda.) A month before the wedding, we sent out invitations to our relatives and friends. — National Institute of Korean Language, Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr)
The timing — one month before the wedding — matters. Too early and people forget; too late and it comes across as rude. And note the verb used here: 돌리다 (dollida). It means to pass something around to a number of people, and it’s the most common, most neutral verb that attaches to 청첩장.
우리는 인사도 드리고 청첩장도 드리려고 겸사겸사해서 선생님을 찾아갔다. (Urineun insado deurigo cheongcheopjangdo deuriryeogo gyeomsagyeomsahaeseo seonsaengnimeul chajagatda.) We went to see our teacher, partly to pay our respects and partly to give him the wedding invitation. — National Institute of Korean Language, Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr)
This single sentence contains all of Korea’s 청첩장 culture. They didn’t mail it — they 찾아갔다 (chajagatda), they went to him. And because he is their senior, they used 드리다 (deurida), the humble form, rather than 주다. The sense that you carry a 청첩장 to a mentor or a boss in person, as a matter of courtesy, is baked right into the sentence.
신랑과 신부는 청첩장에 어떤 문구를 넣을지 의논했다. (Sillanggwa sinbuneun cheongcheopjange eotteon mun-gureul neoeulji uinonhaetda.) The groom and bride discussed what wording to put on the invitation. — National Institute of Korean Language, Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr)
Making the 청첩장 is itself one item on the wedding-prep checklist. Couples discuss what wording to use, how to arrange their two names, even whether to include their parents’ names. These days plenty of couples skip the set phrases entirely and write their own.
예식장 예약 다 했고 어제 청첩장 박았어. (Yesikjang yeyak da haetgo eoje cheongcheopjang bagasseo.) The venue is all booked, and I got the invitations printed yesterday. — National Institute of Korean Language, Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr)
박다 (bakda) is colloquial for having something run off at a print shop. It’s blunt and warmly casual, so it fits nicely in conversation between friends — but in front of someone senior, “청첩장 인쇄했습니다 (cheongcheopjang insaehaetseumnida)” is the better choice.
올해는 일 년 내내 청첩장이 마구마구 밀려든다. (Olhaeneun il nyeon naenae cheongcheopjang-i magumagu millyeodeunda.) This year the wedding invitations have been flooding in all year long. — National Institute of Korean Language, Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr)
This time it’s the voice of the person receiving them. 밀려든다 (millyeodeunda), “they come flooding in,” carries a feeling that isn’t purely delight. One invitation is a celebration; ten is a burden — a seasonal sensation every Korean knows.
A real conversation
Scene: Jun-kyung, whose wedding is two months away, has called Emily out and treated her to dinner. After paying the bill, on the way out, he pulls an envelope from his bag.
준경: 자, 이거. 청첩장. 나 드디어 간다. Here, take this. My wedding invitation. I’m finally getting married.
에밀리: 어? 갑자기 밥 산다길래 무슨 일인가 했더니 이거였구나. 축하해! Huh? I was wondering why you suddenly offered to buy me dinner — so this was it. Congratulations!
준경: 원래 청첩장은 이렇게 얼굴 보고 주는 거야. 카톡으로 툭 보내면 좀 그렇잖아. You’re supposed to hand an invitation over in person like this. Just firing it off on KakaoTalk feels off.
에밀리: 맞아, 나도 그거 아는 데 한참 걸렸어. 처음엔 집들이 카드에도 청첩장이라고 썼다니까. Right, it took me a while to figure that out. At first I even wrote “cheongcheopjang” on a housewarming card.
준경: 야, 그럼 다들 네가 결혼하는 줄 알았겠다. Hey, then everyone must have thought you were getting married.
에밀리: 그래서 그날 축의금 봉투가 세 개 들어왔어. That’s exactly why three cash-gift envelopes showed up that day.
This is where it sounds off
✗ 다음 주에 집들이 해요. 청첩장 보낼게요. We’re having a housewarming next week. I’ll send you a wedding invitation.
✓ 다음 주에 집들이 해요. 초대장 보낼게요. We’re having a housewarming next week. I’ll send you an invitation.
→ It’s easy to get hooked by the “a wedding, etc.” in the dictionary definition, but the place a 청첩장 goes is a wedding. Everyday invitations — housewarmings, birthdays, exhibitions — are all 초대장 (chodaejang). Use 청첩장 for anything other than a wedding and the person reading it will do a double take.
✗ (in a group message to people you haven’t contacted in years) 저 결혼합니다! 청첩장 뿌립니다~ I’m getting married! Scattering my invitations around~
✓ (reaching out to each person individually) 오랜만이에요. 저 결혼하는데, 시간 되시면 청첩장 드리고 싶어서요. It’s been a long time. I’m getting married, and if you have time I’d love to give you an invitation.
→ 뿌리다 (ppurida), “to scatter,” paints a picture of flinging cards out without caring who catches them, so in Korean it’s used almost purely as criticism. The neutral verb is 돌리다 (dollida), and for someone senior it’s 드리다 (deurida). Because the 청첩장 is a card that draws a line through your relationships, the verb you pick reveals whether or not you respected that line.
What would you say in this situation?
Jun-kyung is getting married. He’s told all his friends, but he also needs to tell his department head at work. Which one sounds more natural?
A. (posting a link in the team group chat) 다들 모바일 청첩장 확인해 주세요! B. (going over to the department head’s desk) 부장님, 저 결혼합니다. 청첩장 드리려고 왔습니다.
The answer is B.
Grammatically, A is a perfectly good sentence. The problem is the setting. For someone senior to you, a 청첩장 is less a “delivery” than a “greeting.” That’s exactly the feeling in the dictionary example we saw earlier: “인사도 드리고 청첩장도 드리려고 겸사겸사해서 선생님을 찾아갔다.” The act of presenting the invitation already contains the message “I’m telling this to someone who watched over me” — and folding it into a group announcement makes that message disappear. Sending a mobile invitation to friends your own age or to distant acquaintances is now completely ordinary, but for your elders you still carry over a piece of paper.
Example sentences by situation
1. Mid-wedding-prep, when the couple is choosing the wording
청첩장 문구는 우리가 직접 쓰기로 했어. (Cheongcheopjang mun-gu-neun uri-ga jikjeop sseugiro haetseo.) We decided to write the invitation wording ourselves.
This means using their own words instead of the set formal phrasing. It’s a common choice among young couples now, so you’ll hear this sentence often in wedding-planning talk.
2. In the season when invitations pile up, between friends
이번 달에만 청첩장이 세 장 왔어. 통장이 남아나질 않네. (Ibeon dal-e-man cheongcheopjang-i se jang wasseo. Tongjang-i namanajil anne.) I got three wedding invitations this month alone. My bank account isn’t going to survive.
This is a distinctly Korean joke that holds congratulation and burden together. Weddings cluster in spring and autumn, so in those seasons the line really does get passed around a lot.
3. Asking someone to check the print draft
청첩장 시안 나왔는데 한번 봐 줄래? (Cheongcheopjang sian nawanneunde hanbeon bwa jullae?) The invitation draft came out — could you take a look?
This is casual speech, for a close friend. Getting a name, a date, or the venue address wrong on a 청첩장 is a disaster, so people often ask several friends to proofread. That’s also why the dictionary includes a sentence about an invitation being returned because the address was written incorrectly.
Formal vs. casual speech, and similar expressions
청첩장 is a noun, so it doesn’t have separate casual and polite forms of its own. The politeness lives in the verb you pair it with. To a friend, “청첩장 줄게 (cheongcheopjang julge)”; to someone senior, “청첩장 드릴게요 (cheongcheopjang deurilgeyo).” With this word in particular, that difference rings loud.
First, let’s compare three cards that look similar.
| Expression | Tone / intensity | Where it’s used |
|---|---|---|
| 청첩장 (cheongcheopjang) | Polite and personal; carries the line of a relationship | Wedding invitations only |
| 초대장 (chodaejang) | Neutral, all-purpose | Housewarmings, birthdays, exhibitions — every kind of invitation |
| 초청장 (chocheongjang) | Stiff and official | Public events like opening ceremonies and commemorations |
Next, the verbs that pair with 청첩장. For one and the same card, a single verb changes the attitude entirely.
| Expression | Tone / intensity | Where it’s used |
|---|---|---|
| 청첩장을 돌리다 (cheongcheopjang-eul dollida) | Neutral; the most common | Passing them out widely to a number of people |
| 청첩장을 드리다 (cheongcheopjang-eul deurida) | Polite | Parents, mentors, bosses — anyone senior |
| 청첩장을 박다 (cheongcheopjang-eul bakda) | Blunt, colloquial | Between friends; means “had them printed” |
| 청첩장을 뿌리다 (cheongcheopjang-eul ppurida) | Negative, critical | Griping that someone handed them out indiscriminately |
Cultural background — the card you hand over with a meal
청첩장 is a Sino-Korean word: 請 (cheong, to request), 牒 (cheop, a document), 狀 (jang, a document). Literally, “a document containing a written request.” The meaning sits right there in the characters, so learners who know hanja can often memorize it in one go.
There’s one long-standing rule about how a 청첩장 is handed over in Korea: you give it while buying the meal. A month or two before the wedding, the bride- and groom-to-be gather friends a few at a time, treat them to dinner, and pull out the envelope at the table. This get-together is simply called a 청첩장 모임 (cheongcheopjang moim), an “invitation gathering.” Handing over the card and nothing else could sound like “pay up and show up,” so you serve a meal first to balance the scales. That’s why a soon-to-be-married couple’s evening calendar gets packed solid for weeks during wedding season.
Mobile invitations are common now. One link holds the photos, the map, even the bank account number — very convenient. So paper and mobile have naturally split their territory: paper for elders and for the people you truly want to be there, a link for distant acquaintances and group announcements. The fact that which one you received tells you where the sender placed you is exactly why this card is still such a sensitive object.
In Korean dramas, a scene with a 청첩장 in it is usually not a celebration scene. The moment someone who has never managed to let go takes the other person’s invitation in hand, the audience understands the relationship is over without a single line of dialogue. One card becomes the notice: “I’m going with someone else.” That sense of the 청첩장 as an object that draws a line through a relationship is what the drama shows you, wordlessly.
Today’s quiz
You’ve made a card to invite friends over to your new place. What would be natural to write at the top of it?
① 집들이 청첩장 (jipdeuri cheongcheopjang) ② 집들이 초대장 (jipdeuri chodaejang) ③ 집들이 청첩 (jipdeuri cheongcheop)
The answer is ②. The 청첩장 is a card that only goes to weddings, so putting it on a housewarming card makes the recipient think you’re announcing a marriage. Every everyday invitation is a 초대장 (chodaejang). As for ③, 청첩 (cheongcheop) does mean inviting someone by request, but these days it’s almost never used on its own.
If you take away just one thing today, let it be this. In Korea, this card goes to weddings and nowhere else. And when you give it, you give it hand to hand — ideally along with a meal.
Definitions and example sentences are from the National Institute of Korean Language’s Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr); that portion of this post, including our translations, is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 KR.