계집

Korean

Etymology

First attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean 겨〯집 (Yale: kyěcìp).

A compound of Old Korean 在 (*KYE-, “to be at, to stay”), whence also 계시— (gyesi-) + 집 (jip, “house, home”). Literally "one who is at home". See also 집사람 (jipsaram), 안사람 (ansaram) with the same semantic shift. The word is not attested in the twelfth-century Jilin leishi or in any Old Korean sources, hence it is thought to have been a relatively recent coinage in the fifteenth century. The Jilin leishi transcribes the Korean word for "woman" as 漢吟／汉吟 (hàn yín) */hɑn^H ŋˠiɪm/, which is not attested in any Middle Korean source.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ˈkje̞(ː)d͡ʑip̚] ~ [ˈke̞(ː)d͡ʑip̚]
• Phonetic hangul: [계(ː)집/게(ː)집]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	gyejip
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	gyejib
McCune–Reischauer?	kyejip
Yale Romanization?	kyēycip

Noun

계집 • (gyejip)

1. (disrespectful or dated) woman, girl
   • 1883, 아메노모리 호슈(雨森芳洲) [Amenomori Hōshū], “人品”, in 浦瀬裕, editor, 재간교린수지(再刊交隣須知) (Jaegan'gyorinsuji)‎^{NDL NLK}, 外務省 edition, volume 1:

     尼 승이란 거슨 계집 즁이오니

     ni sung-ilan kes-un kyeycip cyung-iwoni

     Nun: What is called a "nun" is a female priest.

2. (disrespectful or dated) wife

Usage notes

Korean has a number of words equivalent to English "man" and "woman".

1. Sino-Korean 남자 (男子, namja, “boy; guy; man”) and 여자 (女子, yeoja, “girl; woman”) are the most common words, but can have a somewhat informal connotation.

   걔는 남자야? — 아니, 여자야.

   Gyae-neun namja-ya? - Ani, yeoja-ya.

   Is he/she a guy? — No, she's a girl.

   남자친구 / 여자친구

   namja-chin'gu / yeoja-chin'gu

   boyfriend / girlfriend

2. Sino-Korean 남성 (男性, namseong, “male; men”) and 여성 (女性, yeoseong, “female; women”) refer to men and women as groups—though pluralized 남자들 (namja-deul, “the boys; the guys; the men”) and 여자들 (yeoja-deul, “the girls; the women”) is informally more common for this purpose—or to individual adult men and women in formal or polite contexts.

   여성 인권 운동

   yeoseong in'gwon undong

   women's rights movement, feminism

   20대 남성이 실종되었습니다. (in a news report)

   20dae namseong-i siljongdoe-eot-seumnida.

   A man in his twenties has gone missing.

3. Sino-Korean 여인 (女人, yeoin, “woman”) is literary. There is no male counterpart.

   여인의 향기 (movie title)

   yeoin-ui hyanggi

   Scent of a Woman

4. The bare Sino-Korean morphemes 남 (男, nam, “male”) and 여 (女, yeo, “female”) is generally used in formal contexts, especially when referring to each gender as a collective but also for male or female individuals in more legalistic contexts. They are commonly written in hanja even when the rest of the text is in pure Hangul script.

   남과 여의 만남

   nam-gwa yeo-ui mannam

   the meeting of Man and Woman

5. Native 사내 (sanae, “man”) and 계집 (gyejip, “woman”) are not as commonly used. 사내 (sanae) often has a connotation of machismo or manliness, while 계집 (gyejip) has become offensive and derogatory.

Note that in Early Modern Korean (1600—c. 1900) and in contemporary Standard North Korean, Sino-Korean 여 (女, yeo, “female”) is written and pronounced 녀 (nyeo), hence 녀자 (女子, nyeoja), 녀성 (女性, nyeoseong), 녀인 (女人, nyeoin).

Derived terms

• 계집년 (gyejimnyeon)
• 계집아이 (gyejibai)
• 계집애 (gyejibae)
• 계집종 (gyejipjong)
• 계집질 (gyejipjil)

 

References

• 이동석 (Yi Dong-seok) (2004) “'겨집'에 대한 어휘사적 고찰 [gyeojip e daehan eohwisajeok gochal, A lexical study of kyecip]”, in Minjok Munhwa Yeon'gu, volume 40, pages 293–319