Ways to say "circle" - curious about "원" in this sentence?

Question

> **인생은 원이 아니라 무한한 직선이다** That translates to *Life isn’t a circle, it’s an infinite, straight line.* Is there a contextual requirement for when to say `원` and when to say `동그라미`? Are there other ways to say circle?

Answer 1

원 is Chinese oriented word. 동그라미 is pure Korean.

They both mean "circle "

There is no contextual requirement when to say 원 and 동그라미.

However, sometimes when you write, you'd like to put the similar sound words together.

There is a verb 원하다 meaning "want"

동그라미, the sound is a bit poetic and pretty to the native ears.

동그랗다 = to be round (feeling or implying "tiny", "small", "cute"... etc ) 동글동글 adv.

둥그렇다 =to be round (feeling or implying "bigger" circle shape) 둥글둥글 adv.

There is a verb "물끄러미" meaning silently gazing at something

I would match 원 and 원하다, 동그라미 and 물끄러미 when writing. ^ ^

But this is just poetic, rhyming purpose and there's no difference in meaning of the two words.

Answer 2

원 Chinese 동그라미 Pure Korean

They both mean circle and interchangeable