首爾

首爾

Chinese

		head; chief; first (occasion) head; chief; first (occasion); first (thing); measure word for poems	phonetic
trad. (首爾)		首	爾
simp. (首尔)		首	尔

Etymology

Borrowed from Korean 서울 (Seoul). The first character 首 (shǒu, “first”) is a phono-semantic matching of Korean.[1]

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Shǒu'ěr

  (Zhuyin): ㄕㄡˇ ㄦˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sau² ji⁵
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): Sú-ngí

  (Meixian, Guangdong): su³ ngi³

• Min Dong (BUC): Siū-ī
• Min Nan

  (Hokkien, POJ): Siú-ní / Siú-jíⁿ

  (Teochew, Peng'im): siu² re²

• Wu (Wiktionary): seu er (T2)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Shǒu'ěr [Phonetic: shóuěr]
    • Zhuyin: ㄕㄡˇ ㄦˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Shǒu-ěr
    • Wade–Giles: Shou³-êrh³
    • Yale: Shǒu-ěr
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Shooueel
    • Palladius: Шоуэр (Šouer)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ˀɤɻ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: sau² ji⁵
    • Yale: sáu yíh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sau² ji⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: seo² yi⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɐu̯³⁵ jiː¹³/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Sú-ngí
    • Hakka Romanization System: su` ngi`
    • Hagfa Pinyim: su³ ngi³
    • Sinological IPA: /su³¹ ɲi³¹/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: su³ ngi³
    • Sinological IPA: /su³¹ ɲi³¹/
• Min Dong
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: Siū-ī
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sieu³³⁻³⁵ i³³/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Siú-ní
    • Tâi-lô: Siú-ní
    • Phofsit Daibuun: siwnie
    • IPA (Xiamen): /ɕiu⁵³⁻⁴⁴ nĩ⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /ɕiu⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ nĩ⁵⁵⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Siú-jíⁿ
    • Tâi-lô: Siú-jínn
    • Phofsit Daibuun: siwjvie
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ɕiu⁵³⁻⁴⁴ d͡ʑĩ⁵³/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: siu² re²
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: siú jṳ́
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siu⁵²⁻³⁵ d͡zɯ⁵²⁻²¹/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • Wiktionary: seu er (T2)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɜ³³ əɻ⁴⁴/

Proper noun

首爾

1. (～市) Seoul (the capital city of South Korea)

Usage notes

• 漢城／汉城 (Hànchéng) was the name used for the city until 2005, when the city government changed its official Chinese name to 首爾／首尔 (Shǒu'ěr). 漢城／汉城 (Hànchéng) remains to be used in unofficial settings.
• The use of the original name 漢城／汉城 (Hànchéng) is dispreferred in both Koreas. The name 首爾／首尔 (Shǒu'ěr) was specifically designed for transliterating the Korean name 서울 (Seoul) into modern Standard Chinese and is not a Korean hanja (Sino-Korean) representation of the city name, which doesn't have a hanja form.

Synonyms

• 漢城／汉城 (Hànchéng) (dated or colloquial)

References

1. 李源 (2014 April 27), ““汉城”是如何改名为“首尔””, in 成都商报‎, archived from the original on 2019-03-31, retrieved 18 January 2020