선무당

선무당

Korean

Etymology

Univerbation of 선 (seon, “inexperienced, awkward”) +‎ 무당 (mudang, “shaman”).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ˈsʰɘːnmuda̠ŋ]
• Phonetic hangeul: [선ː무당]

Revised Romanization? seonmudang Revised Romanization (translit.)? seonmudang McCune–Reischauer? sŏnmudang Yale Romanization? sēnmutang

Noun

선무당 • (seonmudang)

1. (shamanism) an inexperienced novice priest or shaman

   Synonym: 애동제자 (aedongjeja)

   Antonym: 큰무당 (keunmudang, “great priest, accomplished priest”)

   Hypernyms: 무속인(巫俗人) (musogin), 무당(巫堂) (mudang); for more, see Thesaurus:무속인

2. (figuratively) a novice in any field
3. (figuratively) someone who actually knows little or is incompetent, but believes themselves to be knowledgeable or competent

Derived terms

(proverbs)

• 선무당이 사람 잡는다 (seonmudang-i saram jamneunda, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, literally “the novice shaman kills the person [that they were trying to heal]”)
• 선무당이 사람 속인다 (seonmudang-i saram soginda, “(of an incompetent person) to successfully trick someone into believing something”, literally “the novice shaman fools a person”)
• 선무당이 장구 탓한다 (seonmudang-i janggu tathanda, “(of a novice) to blame circumstances rather than one's own lack of practice”, literally “the novice shaman blames the drums”)