-히
Korean
Etymology
하 (-ha-) + 이 (-i, adverb-deriving suffix).
Pronunciation
- (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [çi]
- Phonetic hangul: [히]
| Romanizations | |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization? | -hi |
| Revised Romanization (translit.)? | hi |
| McCune–Reischauer? | hi |
| Yale Romanization? | hi |
Suffix
히 • (-hi)
- -ly; an adverb-deriving suffix, attaching primarily to adjectives formed by the light verb 하다 (hada).
- 솔직하다 (soljikhada, “to be honest”) + 히 (-hi) → 솔직히 (soljikhi, “honestly”)
- 깔끔하다 (kkalkkeumhada, “to be neat”) + 히 (-hi) → 깔끔히 (kkalkkeumhi, “neatly”)
Usage notes
This suffix coexists with 이 (-i), which is used for other adjectives. Generally speaking, 히 (-hi) is used for adjectives formed by 하다 (hada), and 이 (-i) is used for all other adjectives.
However, some 하다 adjectives lose the consonant ㅎ (-h-) entirely, taking 이 (-i) instead. In the prescriptive standard of Seoul Korean, there are two main exceptions:
- If the non-하다 element ends in ㅅ (-s), 이 is always used.
- 깨끗하 (kkaekkeutha-, “to be clean”) + 이 (-i) + 히 (-hi) → 깨끗이 (kkaekkeusi, “cleanly”)
- If the non-하다 element ends in ㄱ (-k), 이 is often used.
- 굵직하 (gukjikha-, “to be stout”) + 이 (-i) + 히 (-hi) → 굵직이 (gukjigi, “stoutly”)
In practice, many Seoul speakers will uniformly use 히 for all adverbs where the corresponding 하다 adjective remains current in the language.
For a few adverbs, the 히 form is prescriptively used despite being derived from non-하다 adjectives. However, most of these words have fallen out of use in spoken Korean. Note also that certain adverbs which originate as contractions of longer adverbs may use 히 even when there is no corresponding 하다 adjective for the contraction, and that some Sino-Korean adverbs with 히 have lost their adjectival counterpart entirely.