Provided are a cell search method, a forward link frame transmission method, an apparatus using the methods, and a forward link frame structure. The cell search apparatus includes a sync acquirer acquiring synchronization of sync channel symbols using a sync channel of a forward link, and a group detector detecting at least one hopping codeword element belonging to a hopping codeword of a target cell from a forward link signal containing sync channel symbols sequence-hopped using a hopping codeword corresponding to a code group to which a scrambling code of each cell belongs based on the acquired synchronization, and detecting a code group of the target cell based on the detected hopping codeword element, wherein the hopping codewords are orthogonal to a cyclic shift operation. Accordingly, a cell search time and the complexity of the cell search can be reduced.