A long time ago in the dark ages when this website was known as Kimchi & Me and was hosted by the fine people at blogger (or whatever conglomerate owns said name), I ran a three day educational series known as Hanjapalooza where I revealed awesome knowledge such as the fact that in Korea (and if the comments were to be believed elsewhere in Asia) people use 正 to tally junk up.

Much like Perry Farrell in the 2000s, I too have decided that Hanjapalooza still has some viability and vitality, so like Jean Grey in the X-men it’s rising from the ashes, and in the words of Rage Against The Machine,”It’s comming back around again!” The 漢字 to kick this whole thing off is going to be:

桃
(복숭아 도)

“Peach trees?! You brought us all the way out here to rap at us about peaches?!”

Well, yes and no. If you give me a moment to explain myself you’ll see that there is something outstanding about this particular 漢字. But to start, 桃 does mean “peach,” and as such is used in the following words.

천도 (天桃) - 천도 peaches are a type of fruit consumed by the gods, which I suppose makes them something like manna. However, unlike manna, these peaches are also readily avalible in most fruit markets.
백도 (白桃) - “White peaches.” Unlike 천도 these peaches are throughly non-magical…but they do come in a can which I guess is kind of magic.
황도 (黃桃) - “Yellow peaches.” Another variety of canned, non-magical peaches.
도화 (桃花) - Peach flowers.
도화색 (桃花色) - “Peach flower color.” This word is used to refer to something (like cheeks) that English speakers would call “rosey.”

“Enough with the peaches already!”

Alright homie! Thanks for bearing with me as long as you did. Now here’s the payoff! In addition to meaning “peach,” 桃 has a second, more awesomer meaning as well…particularly when combined with 色 (빛 색 color). When these two characters rock out together (without 花) they mean something like lewd, obscene, sexy, or pornographic. Yeah I heard you yell, “AWESOME!” at the top of your lungs. Let’s check out some sleazy vocab!

도색문학 (桃色文學) - pornography
도색영화 (桃色映畵) - a porno flick
도색잡지 (桃色雜誌) - a pornographic magazine
도색본 (桃色本) - a sex book

Well that about does it here. If you know any other lewd phrases using 桃 let me know. Additionally, to the speakers of Chinese and Japanese out there, is 桃 just as raunchy in your languages or was that a purely Korean use? Peace out my babies!