-음직

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Korean 엄〮직〮 (Yale: -émcík). Beyond this, the first vowel of the Middle Korean suffix behaves identically to and is certainly etymologically derived from the infinitive 어〮 (Yale: -é) whence modern 어 (-eo), but the rest of the etymology (/m/, /t͡sik/) is unclear.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ɯmd͡ʑik̚]
• Phonetic hangul: [음직]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	eumjik
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	eumjig
McCune–Reischauer?	ŭmjik
Yale Romanization?	umcik

Suffix

음직 • (-eumjik)

1. -worthy (attached between a verb stem and the adjective-deriving suffixes 스럽다 (-seureopda) or 하다 (-hada))

   ‎먹 (meok-, “to eat”) + ‎음직 (-eumjik) + ‎하다 (-hada, adjective-deriving light verb) → ‎먹음직하다 (meogeumjikhada, “to look palatable, to look good to eat”)

   ‎믿 (mit-, “to trust”) + ‎음직 (-eumjik) + ‎스럽다 (-seureopda, adjective-deriving suffix) → ‎믿음직스럽다 (mideumjikseureopda, “to be trustworthy”)

   ‎들 (deul-, “to listen”) + ‎음직 (-eumjik) + ‎하다 (-hada, adjective-deriving light verb) → ‎들음직하다 (deureumjikhada, “to be worth listening to”)

   ‎꺼리 (kkeori-, “to avoid”) + ‎음직 (-eumjik) + ‎하다 (-hada, adjective-deriving light verb) → ‎꺼림칙하다 (kkeorimchikhada, “to be uncanny”)