사꾸라

Korean

Alternative forms

사쿠라 (sakura) (prescribed standard)

Etymology

From Japanese 桜 (sakura, “cherry blossom”), presumably borrowed under colonial rule (1910–1945).

Numerous etymologies have been proposed. One is that it is a clipping of Japanese 桜肉 (sakura niku, “horsemeat”), referring to a fraud where horsemeat was falsely packaged as beef. Another is that it is from the Japanese slang use of 桜 as "shill" or "swindle".

Pronunciation

(SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰa̠k͈uɾa̠]
Phonetic hangul: [사꾸라]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization^?	sakkura
Revised Romanization (translit.)^?	sa'kkula
McCune–Reischauer^?	sakkura
Yale Romanization^?	sa.kkwula

Noun

사꾸라 • (sakkura)

(politics) a spy or agent for the opposing political party
(colloquial, derogatory) a fraud