손님

Korean

Etymology

First attested as Late Old Korean 孫命 in the Jīlín lèishì (鷄林類事 / 계림유사)^[1], 1103.

손 (son) +‎ -님 (-nim, honorific particle).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰo̞nnim]
• Phonetic hangul: [손님]

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

Noun

손님 • (sonnim)

1. (honorific) guest, visitor
2. (honorific) customer, client

   Synonym: 고객(顧客)님 (gogaengnim)

3. (honorific) passenger

   Synonym: 승객(乘客) (seunggaek)

4. (euphemistic, historical) smallpox

Derived terms

• 손님네 (sonnimne, “deities of epidemic”)