외국인

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 外國人, from 外國 (“foreign country”) + 人 (“person”).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ˈwe̞(ː)ɡuɡin] ~ [ˈø̞(ː)ɡuɡin]
• Phonetic hangul: [웨(ː)구긴/외(ː)구긴]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	oegugin
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	oegug'in
McCune–Reischauer?	oegugin
Yale Romanization?	ōykwuk.in

Noun

외국인 • (oegugin) (hanja 外國人)

1. a foreigner or foreigners, especially European.

   Synonym: (less common) 외인(外人) (oein, “foreigner; alien”)

   • 2014, Four Bars, “Foreigner”, in Sorry, I was drunk: Random ramblings about life and stuff.‎^[1] (in English), BlogSpot, archived from the original on 17 April 2015:

     I don't like the way Koreans use the word "외국인." Despite what it means in the dictionary, in [South] Korea "foreigner" has definite racial connotations. Foreigner is almost synonymous with white people.

2. a person who is not of ethnic Korean ancestry

See also

• 영주권자(永住權者) (yeongjugwonja, “permanent resident”)