대원군

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 大院 (“great mansion”) + 君 (“lord”).

The Heungseon Daewongun—one of the most important figures in modern Korean history—was the only person in Korean dynastic history to hold this position in life (the other holders were accorded the title posthumously), and the word is almost always used in reference to him.

Pronunciation

(SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ˈtɛ(ː)wʌ̹nɡun] ~ [ˈte̞(ː)wʌ̹nɡun]
Phonetic hangul: [대(ː)원군/데(ː)원군]
- Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Romanizations
Revised Romanization^?	Daewon'gun
Revised Romanization (translit.)^?	Daewongun
McCune–Reischauer^?	Taewŏn'gun
Yale Romanization^?	tāywenkwun

Proper noun

대원군 • (Daewon'gun) (hanja 大院君)

the Heungseon Daewongun, de facto ruler of Korea between 1863 and 1873 and major political figure until his death in 1898, both celebrated for his domestic reforms and criticized for his isolationist foreign policy

Noun

대원군 • (daewon'gun) (hanja 大院君)

(historical, technical) a title given to the non-royal birth father of a reigning king, for when the latter had acceded to the throne by being adopted by a previous king who had had no sons
(uncommon, slang, humorous) a xenophobe, someone who does not like non-Korean things