수화

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 手話, from 手 (“hand”) + 話 (“speech”).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰuβwa̠]
• Phonetic hangul: [수화]

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

Noun

수화 • (suhwa) (hanja 手話)

1. sign language

Usage notes

• In linguistics and among Deaf people, 수어 (手語, sueo) is nowadays preferred because the hanja 話 (hwa, “speech”) may falsely imply that sign language is not a full language but merely a signed form of spoken language.
• 수화 (手話, suhwa) remains significantly more common colloquially.