북

북	U+BD81, 북 HANGUL SYLLABLE BUG

Composition:

ㅂ + ㅜ + ㄱ

← 부
[U+BD80]

Hangul Syllables

붂 →
[U+BD82]

뵤 ←	→ 붜
부북붂 붃 분 붅 붆 붇 불 붉 붊 붋 붌 붍 붎 붏 붐 붑 붒 붓 붔 붕 붖 붗 붘 붙 붚 붛

Jeju

Etymology

Cognate with Korean 북 (buk).

Pronunciation

(Morphophonemic) IPA^(key): ⫽puk⫽
(Jeju City) IPA^(key): [puk̚]
Phonetic hangul: [북]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization^?	buk
Revised Romanization (translit.)^?	bug
Yale Romanization^?	puk

Noun

북 (buk)

a generic term meaning drum
a traditional Korean double-headed barrel-shaped drum, played with one hand and one stick, and used in Korean folk music

Korean

Pronunciation

(SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [puk̚]
Phonetic hangul: [북]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization^?	buk
Revised Romanization (translit.)^?	bug
McCune–Reischauer^?	puk
Yale Romanization^?	puk

Etymology 1

First attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean 붚〮 (Yale: pwúph), likely cognate with 부풀다 (bupulda, “to fluff, popple, bubble, bulge”).

Noun

북 • (buk)

a generic term meaning drum
a buk, traditional Korean double-headed barrel-shaped drum, played with one hand and one stick, and used in Korean folk music

Etymology 2

First attested in the Hunmong jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527, as Middle Korean 북 (Yale: pwùk).

Noun

북 • (buk)

a shuttle (used in weaving and sewing machines)

Etymology 3

Uncertain. Perhaps cognate with the above Etymology 1 and 2 in the sense of bulge.

Noun

북 • (buk)

soil heap (around roots)

Etymology 4

Sino-Korean word from 北.

Noun

북 • (buk) (hanja 北)

north

Coordinate terms

compass points: ^[edit]

서북(西北) (seobuk) 북서(北西) (bukseo)	북(北) (buk)	동북(東北) (dongbuk) 북동(北東) (bukdong)
서(西) (seo)		동(東) (dong)
서남(西南) (seonam) 남서(南西) (namseo)	남(南) (nam)	동남(東南) (dongnam) 남동(南東) (namdong)

Derived terms

See the hanja entry at 北 for Sino-Korean compounds of 북 (北, buk).

Proper noun

북 • (Buk) (hanja 北)

Short for 북한(北韓) (Bukhan, “(South Korea) North Korea”).

Usage notes

In news headlines, this is customarily written solely in the hanja form, even in contemporary Korean texts otherwise devoid of Chinese characters.