애인

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 愛人, from 愛 (“love”) + 人 (“person”). The Yanbian sense a semantic loan from Chinese 愛人／爱人 (àirén).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ˈɛ(ː)in] ~ [ˈe̞(ː)in]
• Phonetic hangul: [애(ː)인/에(ː)인]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

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

Noun

애인 • (aein) (hanja 愛人)

1. lover; boyfriend, girlfriend

   Synonym: (Yanbian) 대상자(對象者) (daesangja)

   Hypernyms: 남자친구(男子親舊) (namjachin'gu, “boyfriend”), 여자친구(女子親舊) (yeojachin'gu, “girlfriend”)

2. (Yanbian) spouse

Further reading

• 곽충구 [Kwak Chung-gu] (2019) 두만강 유역의 조선어 방언 사전 [duman'gang yuyeogui joseoneo bang'eon sajeon, Dictionary of Korean Dialects of the Tumen River Area], volume II, Taehaksa, →ISBN, page 2471