Wiktionary

저

저 U+C800, 저
HANGUL SYLLABLE JEO
Composition:ㅈ + ㅓ
← 쟿
[U+C7FF] 		Hangul Syllables 적 →
[U+C801]
저적젂젃전젅젆
젇절젉젊젋젌젍
젎젏점접젒젓젔
정젖젗젘젙젚젛
쟤 ←→ 제

Jeju

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Etymology

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Cognate with Korean 저 (jeo).

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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저 (jeo)

  1. (determiner) that

See also

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  • 그 (geu, “that”)
  • 이 (i, “this”)

Korean

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Etymology 1

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First attested in the Yongbi eocheon'ga (龍飛御天歌 / 용비어천가), 1447, as Middle Korean 뎌〮 (Yale: tyé), from Old Korean 彼 (*TYE).

Pronunciation

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  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [t͡ɕʌ̹]
    • Audio:(file)
  • Phonetic hangul: [저]
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?jeo
Revised Romanization (translit.)?jeo
McCune–Reischauer?chŏ
Yale Romanization?ce

Determiner

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저 • (jeo)

  1. that (distal determiner)
    Synonym: 조 (jo, “that”, diminutive)
    Coordinate terms: (proximal) 이 (i, “this”), (mesial) 그 (geu, “that”)
    저기 저 나무를 봐 봐. ― Jeogi jeo namu-reul bwa bwa. ― Take a look at that tree over there.

Pronoun

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저 • (jeo)

  1. (literary) that, that thing
    Synonym: 저것 (jeogeot, “that thing”)
    이도 저도 아니다 (common phrase) ― i-do jeo-do anida ― to be neither this or that
Derived terms
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See also

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Korean demonstratives edit
Determiner 이 그 저 어느
Pronoun Human 이이 그이 저이 뉘
이분 그분 저분 어느 분
이자 그자 저자
얘 걔 쟤
Object 이 (그) (저) 어느
이것 그것 저것 어느 것
이거 그거 저거 어느 거
Place 여기 거기 저기 어디
이곳 그곳 저곳 어느 곳
Direction 이쪽 그쪽 저쪽 어느 쪽
Time 이때 그때 접때 언제
Verb 이러다 그러다 저러다 어쩌다
이리하다 그리하다 저리하다 어찌하다
Adjective 이렇다 그렇다 저렇다 어떻다
이러하다 그러하다 저러하다 어떠하다
Adverb 이리 그리 저리 어찌
이렇게 그렇게 저렇게 어떻게
이만큼 그만큼 저만큼 얼마만큼(얼마큼)

Etymology 2

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First attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean 저 (Yale: cè), originally a reflexive pronoun ("my/your/it/him/herself").

Pronunciation

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Romanizations
Revised Romanization?jeo
Revised Romanization (translit.)?jeo
McCune–Reischauer?chŏ
Yale Romanization?ce

Pronoun

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저 • (jeo)

  1. (humble) I, me; first-person singular polite pronoun
    Synonym: (non-humble) 나 (na, “I, me”)
    어제, 저는 기차를 탔습니다. ― Eoje, jeo-neun gicha-reul tatseumnida. ― Yesterday, I took a train.
  2. (higher register) oneself; third-person plain reflexive pronoun
    Synonym: (neutral) 자기(自己) (jagi)
    그는 저 하고 싶은 것만 한다. ― Geu-neun jeo hago sipeun geon-man handa. ― He only does things that he himself wants [to do].
Alternative forms
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  • 제 (je) — allomorph before 가 (-ga, nominative case marker)
Derived terms
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  • 제 (je, “my; one's”)

Etymology 3

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First attested in the Jīlín lèishì (鷄林類事 / 계림유사), 1103, as Late Old Korean 折. In the hangul script, first attested in the Gugeupbang eonhae (救急方諺解 / 구급방언해), 1466, as Middle Korean 져〮 (Yale: cyé).

Once widely perceived as Sino-Korean, the spelling 箸 is in fact unetymological; and the word is of Native Korean origin as far as history is concerned.

On the hanja form[1]

Until the late 20th century—and as early as 1897 in James Scarth Gale's A Korean-English dictionary—dictionaries had mistakenly assigned the Chinese character 箸 for the word. The spelling was found often in literature as well, and is still occasionally presented as a folk etymology. However, this usage comes from a conflation with hanja 箸 (jeo, “chopsticks”), which now happens to be a perfect—albeit etymologically unrelated—semantic and phonetic match, erroneously assuming a Chinese provenance.

This fact can be gleaned from three related, but separate, observations:

1) It is difficult to see how the reconstructed Old Korean form *<cyel> based on the Jīlín lèishì transcription 折 (MC tsyet) could have derived from Middle Chinese 箸 (ɖɨʌH), with different consonantism and an evident final coda.
2) Further supporting this, the dialectal equivalent 절 (jeol, “chopsticks”) preserves and confirms much of the original shape suggested by Jīlín lèishì, making its ultimate derivation from Middle Chinese 箸 (ɖɨʌH) even more unlikely.
3) The earliest written records show that the two were clearly distinguished. Both were unambiguously spelled differently in Middle Korean: the character was read as expected as 뎌〯 (tyě), whereas the word itself was 져〮 (cyé). Moreover, there are no known processes that could have derived the latter from the former before this point in the language. It was only during the Early Modern era when palatalization and loss of tone occurred that speakers began conflating the two.

In conclusion, 저 (jeo) and 箸 (jeo) are two different words and had historically been independent from each other. 저 (jeo) is not derived from any known Chinese source and is very likely a descendant of the native Old Korean word for "chopsticks" recorded in Jīlín lèishì. It has only relatively recently become wrongly associated with 箸 (jeo) in the standard dialect, where the two have coincidentally merged in sound.

True etymological use, as borrowed from Chinese, of 箸 (jeo) in Korean is limited to a number of rare or archaic Sino-Korean compound words such as 시저(匙箸) (sijeo) or 비저(匕箸) (bijeo).

Pronunciation

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Romanizations
Revised Romanization?jeo
Revised Romanization (translit.)?jeo
McCune–Reischauer?chŏ
Yale Romanization?ce

Noun

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저 한 매/쌍(雙) (jeo han mae/ssang, “a pair of chopsticks”)

저 • (jeo) (usually no hanja; sometimes 箸)

  1. (dated or in compounds) chopstick(s)
    Synonym: 젓가락 (jeotgarak)
    저를 쥐다/들다 ― jeo-reul jwida/deulda ― to hold chopsticks
Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Etymology 4

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Pronunciation

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  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [t͡ɕɘ(ː)]
  • Phonetic hangul: [저(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?jeo
Revised Romanization (translit.)?jeo
McCune–Reischauer?chŏ
Yale Romanization?cē

Interjection

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저 • (jeo)

  1. um..., uh... (conveys hesitation or a pause in speech)

Etymology 5

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Sino-Korean word from 著.

Pronunciation

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  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [t͡ɕɘ(ː)]
  • Phonetic hangul: [저(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?jeo
Revised Romanization (translit.)?jeo
McCune–Reischauer?chŏ
Yale Romanization?cē

Noun

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저 • (jeo) (hanja 著)

  1. written by... (written after the author's name)
    Synonym: 저술(著述) (jeosul)
    이상 저 ― I Sang jeo ― [written] by Yi Sang
Derived terms
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Etymology 6

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Sino-Korean word from 底.

Pronunciation

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  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [t͡ɕɘ(ː)]
  • Phonetic hangul: [저(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?jeo
Revised Romanization (translit.)?jeo
McCune–Reischauer?chŏ
Yale Romanization?cē

Noun

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저 • (jeo) (hanja 底)

  1. (superseded) Synonym of 밑 (mit, “(mathematics) base of a logarithm”)
Derived terms
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Etymology 7

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First attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean 뎧 (Yale: tyèh). Nativisation of the Sino-Korean term 적 (笛, jeok), of which this is a doublet. Displaced by Korean 피리 (piri), a borrowing from Early Mandarin.

Pronunciation

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Romanizations
Revised Romanization?jeo
Revised Romanization (translit.)?jeo
McCune–Reischauer?chŏ
Yale Romanization?ce

Noun

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저를 부는 연주자 (jeo-reul buneun yeonjuja, “a performer playing the daegeum”)

저 • (jeo)

  1. (music, archaic) transverse flute
Derived terms
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Etymology 8

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Sino-Korean word from 低.

Pronunciation

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  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [t͡ɕɘ(ː)]
  • Phonetic hangul: [저(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?jeo
Revised Romanization (translit.)?jeo
McCune–Reischauer?chŏ
Yale Romanization?cē

Prefix

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저— • (jeo-) (hanja 低)

  1. low
    Antonym: 고(高) (go-, “high”)
    ‎저(低) (jeo-) + ‎소득(所得) (sodeuk, “income”) → ‎저소득(低所得) (jeosodeuk, “low-income”)
Derived terms
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Etymology 9

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Korean reading of various Chinese characters.

Syllable

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저 (jeo)

More information
  1. 著:
    (MC reading: 著 (MC drjo|trjoX|trjoH|trjak|drjak))
  2. 貯:
    (MC reading: 貯 (MC trjoX))
  3. 低:
    (MC reading: 低 (MC tej))
  4. 底:
    (MC reading: 底 (MC tejX))
  5. 抵:
    (MC reading: 抵 (MC tejX))
  6. 沮:
    (MC reading: 沮 (MC tshjo|tsjo|tsrjo|dzjoX|tsjoH))
  7. 邸:
    (MC reading: 邸 (MC tejX))
  8. 猪:
    (MC reading: 猪 (MC trjo))
  9. 姐:
    (MC reading: 姐 (MC tsjaeX))
  10. 箸:
    (MC reading: 箸 (MC trjoH|drjoH))

References

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  1. ^ 조항범 (Cho Hang-bum) (2019) “조항범 교수의 어원 이야기: 수저 [johangbeom gyosuui eowon iyagi: sujeo]”, in Munhwa ilbo‎[1]
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