겨울

Korean

Etymology

First attested in the Worin cheon'gangjigok (月印千江之曲 / 월인천강지곡), 1449, as Middle Korean 겨ᅀᅳᆶ〮 (Yale: kyèzúlh).

Compare dialect forms 겨욹 (gyeouk), 저슭 (jeoseuk), 저싥 (jeosik), 줅 (juk), 겨을 (gyeo'eul), 절 (jeol), 줄기 (julgi), 절기 (jeolgi), 저슬 (jeoseul), 저실 (jeosil), etc.).

Generally considered to be a compound from 겨시‐ (Yale: kyesi-, “to stay”, honorific) + ㄹ (Yale: -l, irrealis adnominal suffix) + ㅎ (Yale: -h, suffix to make a noun) in the sense of "cold season to stay inside".

James Marshall Unger (2001) asserts it is probably cognate to Japanese 如月 (Kisaragi, “the second month of the lunar calendar”). However this theory is unreasonable for the following reasons:

• The 2nd month of East Asian lunar calendar is when the vernal equinox occurs, or the middle month of spring, which is never considered as winter.
• Vowel ㅕ (Yale: ye) of Koreanic is consistently transcribed in <e> in Japanese, until its pronunciation changed to [jʌ̹] as the standard Korean in the early modern times (cf. 寺(てら) (tera, “temple”, borrowed from Baekje, related to Middle Korean 뎔〮 (Yale: tyél; modern Korean 절 (jeol))), 嶋(セマ) (sema, transliteration of the Baekje word for "island", related to 셤〯 (Yale: syěm; modern Korean 섬 (seom))), 倍留(ぺる) (peru, transliteration of 별 (byeol, “star”) in the Wakan Sansai Zue, 1712) (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kjʌ̹uɭ]
• Phonetic hangul: [겨울]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	gyeoul
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	gyeoul
McCune–Reischauer?	kyŏul
Yale Romanization?	kyewul

• South Gyeongsang (Busan) pitch accent: 겨울의 / 겨울에 / 겨울까지

  Syllables in red take high pitch. This word always takes high pitch only on the first syllable, and lowers the pitch of subsequent suffixes.

Noun

겨울 • (gyeoul)

1. winter

   Synonym: (Jeonnam) 시한 (sihan)

Coordinate terms

Seasons in Korean · 사철 (四철, sacheol), 사계 (四季, sagye, “four seasons”) (layout · text) · category
봄 (bom, “spring”)	여름 (yeoreum, “summer”)	가을 (ga'eul, “fall; autumn”)	겨울 (gyeoul, “winter”)

Derived terms

• 겨우내 (gyeounae, “all winter long”)
• 겨우살이 (gyeousari, “preparation for winter; wintering”)
• 겨울날 (gyeoullal, “winter day”)
• 겨울비 (gyeoulbi, “winter rain”)
• 겨울새 (gyeoulsae, “winter bird”)
• 겨울잠 (gyeouljam, “winter sleep, hibernation”)
• 겨울철 (gyeoulcheol, “winter season”)
• 겨울털 (gyeoulteol, “winter coat, fur coat”)

 

See also

• 冬 (dong), the hanja for winter