# Condolence money 부의 vs 조의



## Tontita

Hello everyone! 
I am wondering if someone would mind assisting me? I would like to give my professor an envelope with money in it, as he has just returned from Korea from his father's funeral. I know it is customary to have the Chinese lettering on the front of the envelope, but because I am hand writing this for him I would prefer to write it in Korean. I have found two different translations for what I am assuming means condolence money (부의 and 조의) I believe the second one may be correct, but the first one has appeared in more of my research. 
Please let me know which one to write on the front of the envelope? Thank you in advance for your time.


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## kenjoluma

You can use both. But those two are a little bit different.

조의: condolences. The saddened feeling for someone's death
부의: a token (usually money) of condolences.

So if you write '조의' on it, it means 'My condolences' itself, if you write '부의', that means 'please accept this small token of my condolences'. But both are very common and whatever you choose to write, it really does not matter.

Write it on the centre of the envelope in the front, and then your name in the corner of the back. (And write it vertically!)


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## Tontita

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
Have a nice day!


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## jakartaman

조의금 is the one we use all the time. I never heard of 부의 though you may find it in a dictionary or in some ancient writing. 

조의 is condolence. 금 means "money" in this case (when it is used alone without being combined with another word in a case like this, it means "gold"). 

But as you said, if you want to write something on an envelope, write "고인의 명복을 빕니다." meaning "May the dead person rest in peace." 

It's better not to write "조의금" on an envelope because although Koreans love money, they don't make it sound too obvious.


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