누

누 U+B204, 누 HANGUL SYLLABLE NU Composition: ㄴ + ㅜ ← 눃 [U+B203] Hangul Syllables 눅 → [U+B205]

누눅눆눇눈눉눊 눋눌눍눎눏눐눑 눒눓눔눕눖눗눘 눙눚눛눜눝눞눟
뇨 ←	→ 눠

Korean

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [nu]
• Phonetic hangul: [누]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	nu
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	nu
McCune–Reischauer?	nu
Yale Romanization?	nwu

Etymology 1

Korean reading of various Chinese characters.

Syllable

누 (nu)

Extended content

僂: (MC reading: 僂 (MC luw|ljuX|luwH)) 嘍: (MC reading: 嘍 (MC luw|luwX)) 壘: rampart (eumhun reading: 진 누 (jin nu)) (MC reading: 壘 (MC lwijX)) 婁: (MC reading: 婁 (MC lju|luw)) 屢: often, frequently; many (eumhun reading: 창 누 (chang nu)) (MC reading: 屢 (MC ljuH)) 嶁: (MC reading: 嶁 (MC ljuX|luwX)) 慺: (MC reading: 慺 (MC lju|luw|ljuX)) 楼: (MC reading: 楼) 樓: building of two or more stories (eumhun reading: 다락 누 (darak nu)) (MC reading: 樓 (MC luw)) 淚: tear; cry (eumhun reading: 눈물 누 (nunmul nu)) (MC reading: 淚 (MC lwijH)) 漏: leak (eumhun reading: 샐 누 (sael nu)) (MC reading: 漏 (MC luwH)) 瘻: (MC reading: 瘻 (MC lju|luwH)) 累: tired; implicate, involve; bother (eumhun reading: 묶을 누 (mukkeul nu)) (MC reading: 累 (MC ljweX|ljweH)) 縷: (MC reading: 縷 (MC ljuX)) 耨: (MC reading: 耨 (MC nuwH|nowk)) 耬: (MC reading: 耬 (MC luw)) 蔞: (MC reading: 蔞 (MC lju|luw|ljuX)) 螻: (MC reading: 螻 (MC luw)) 褸: (MC reading: 褸 (MC luw|ljuX)) 鏤: (MC reading: 鏤 (MC lju|luwH)) 陋: (MC reading: 陋 (MC luwH)) 髏: skull (eumhun reading: 해골 누 (haegol nu)) (MC reading: 髏 (MC luw))

Etymology 2

Pronoun

누 • (nu)

1. (archaic or regional, including Gangwon, Gyeongsang) Synonym of 누구 (nugu, “who, someone”)
   • 2012 April 20, 이돈 [idon], “대추나무를 되찾은 오성의 재치 [daechunamureul doechajeun oseong'ui jaechi]”, in 한국구비문학대계 [han'gukgubimunhakdaegye]‎^[1], 경상북도 영양군 석보면 [gyeongsangbukdo yeong'yanggun seokbomyeon]:

     대감님, 이 주먹이 누 주먹이니껴?

     Daegamnim, i jumeog-i nu jumeog-inikkyeo?

     Prince, who's fist is this?

Middle Korean

Etymology

It has been suggested since the 1950s that the basic Korean pronouns 나 (na, “I; me”), 너 (ne, “you”), and 누 (nwu, “who”) (> modern 누구 (nugu)) were all formed from the same etymon via ablaut, which appears to have once been an extremely productive process in Korean, at some very ancient stage. Given the very limited data on prehistoric Korean, this hypothesis cannot be proven for sure either way.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nú/

Pronoun

누〮 (nwú)

1. (interrogative) who?
   • 14th century?, “滿殿春 (Manjeonchun)”, in 樂章歌詞 (Akjang gasa):

     벼기더시니 뉘러시니ᅌᅵᆺ가 뉘러시니ᅌᅵᆺ가

     pyekitesin_i nwu-ylesiningiska nwu-ylesiningiska

     Who was the one, who was the one who had made that vow?

   • 1459, 月印釋譜 / 월인석보 [Worin seokbo], pages 8:86b—8.87a:

     아라〮 녀리〮 그츤〮 이〮런 이ᄫᅳᆫ〮 길헤〮 눌〯 보〯리라〮 우러〮곰〮 온다〮

     àlá nyèl_í kùchún ílèn ìWún kìlh-éy nwǔ-l pwǒlìlá wùlé-kwóm wòntá

     On this confounding trail where there are no longer those to know the way, who do you intend to see, that you come weeping thus?

Usage notes

In Middle Korean, the pronoun only had an interrogative sense and did not mean "somebody" as in Modern Korean. The word for "somebody" was 아모 (amwo) > Modern 아무 (amu).

Inflection

Case	Form
Isolated	누〮 (nwú)
Nominative	뉘〮 (nwúy)
Accusative	눌〯 (nwǔ-l), 누〮를〮 (nwú-lúl), 누〯를〮 (nwǔ-lúl)
Genitive	뉘〯 (nwǔy)

The Middle Korean pronouns have an irregular pitch inflection otherwise unusual in the language, and the origin of which is unknown.

Descendants

• Korean: 누 (nu, “who, someone”) (archaic or dialectal)
• ⇒ Korean: 누구 (nugu, “who, someone”)
• ⇒ Korean: 누가 (nuga, “who, someone”, as subject)
• ⇒ Korean: 뉘 (nwi, “who, someone”) (archaic)