여자
Korean
Etymology
Sino-Korean word from 女子, from 女 (“female”) + 子 (“offspring”)
Pronunciation
- (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [jʌ̹d͡ʑa̠]
(file)
- Phonetic hangul: [여자]
Romanizations | |
---|---|
Revised Romanization? | yeoja |
Revised Romanization (translit.)? | yeoja |
McCune–Reischauer? | yŏja |
Yale Romanization? | yeca |
South Gyeongsang (Busan) pitch accent: 여자의 / 여자에 / 여자까지
Syllables in red take high pitch. This word always takes high pitch on both syllables, and lowers the pitch of subsequent suffixes.
South Korean Standard Language | 여자(女子) (yeoja) |
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North Korean Standard Language | 녀자(女子) (nyeoja) |
Noun
여자 • (yeoja) (hanja 女子)
- woman, girl
- 여자친구 ― yeojachin'gu ― girlfriend
- 여자 세 명이 왔다 갔다. ― Yeoja se myeong-i watda gatda. ― Three women came and went.
- Coordinate term: 남자(男子) (namja, “boy, man”)
Usage notes
Korean has a number of words equivalent to English "man" and "woman".
- Sino-Korean 남자 (男子, namja, “boy; guy; man”) and 여자 (女子, yeoja, “girl; woman”) are the most common words, but can have a somewhat informal connotation.
- 걔는 남자야? — 아니, 여자야.
- Gyae-neun namja-ya? - ani, yeoja-ya.
- Is he/she a guy? — No, she's a girl.
- 남자친구 / 여자친구
- namja-chin'gu / yeoja-chin'gu
- boyfriend / girlfriend
- Sino-Korean 남성 (男性, namseong, “male; men”) and 여성 (女性, yeoseong, “female; women”) refer to men and women as groups—though pluralized 남자들 (namja-deul, “the boys; the guys; the men”) and 여자들 (yeoja-deul, “the girls; the women”) is informally more common for this purpose—or to individual adult men and women in formal or polite contexts.
- 여성 인권 운동
- yeoseong in'gwon undong
- women's rights movement, feminism
- 20대 남성이 실종되었습니다. (in a news report)
- 20dae namseong-i siljongdoe-eot-seumnida.
- A man in his twenties has gone missing.
- Sino-Korean 여인 (女人, yeoin, “woman”) is literary. There is no male counterpart.
- 여인의 향기 (movie title)
- yeoin-ui hyanggi
- Scent of a Woman
- The bare Sino-Korean morphemes 남 (男, nam, “male”) and 여 (女, yeo, “female”) is generally used in formal contexts, especially when referring to each gender as a collective but also for male or female individuals in more legalistic contexts. They are commonly written in hanja even when the rest of the text is in pure Hangul script.
- 남과 여의 만남
- nam-gwa yeo-ui mannam
- the meeting of Man and Woman
- Native 사내 (sanae, “man”) and 계집 (gyejip, “woman”) are not as commonly used. 사내 (sanae) often has a connotation of machismo or manliness, while 계집 (gyejip) has become offensive and derogatory.
Note that in Early Modern Korean (1600—c. 1900) and in contemporary Standard North Korean, Sino-Korean 여 (女, yeo, “female”) is written and pronounced 녀 (nyeo), hence 녀자 (女子, nyeoja), 녀성 (女性, nyeoseong), 녀인 (女人, nyeoin).
Related terms
- 남녀 (男女, namnyeo, “men and women”)
See also
- 어른 (eoreun, “adult”)
- 아이 (ai, “child”)