선무당

Korean

Univerbation of 선 (seon, “inexperienced, awkward”) +‎ 무당 (mudang, “shaman”).

(SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ˈsʰɘ(ː)nmuda̠ŋ]
Phonetic hangul: [선(ː)무당]
- Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Romanizations
Revised Romanization^?	seonmudang
Revised Romanization (translit.)^?	seonmudang
McCune–Reischauer^?	sŏnmudang
Yale Romanization^?	sēnmutang

선무당 • (seonmudang)

(shamanism) an inexperienced novice priest or shaman
Synonym: 애동제자 (aedongjeja)

Antonym: 큰무당 (keunmudang, “great priest, accomplished priest”)

Hypernyms: 무속인(巫俗人) (musogin), 무당(巫堂) (mudang); see also Thesaurus:무속인
(figurative) a novice in any field
(figurative) someone who actually knows little or is incompetent, but believes themselves to be knowledgeable or competent

(proverbs)

선무당이 사람 잡는다 (seonmudang'i saram jamneunda, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, literally “the novice shaman kills the person [that they were trying to heal]”)
선무당이 사람 속인다 (seonmudang'i saram soginda, “(of an incompetent person) to successfully trick someone into believing something”, literally “the novice shaman fools a person”)
선무당이 장구 탓한다 (seonmudang'i janggu tathanda, “(of a novice) to blame circumstances rather than one's own lack of practice”, literally “the novice shaman blames the drums”)