말똥구리

Korean

왕쇠똥구리 (Scarabaeus sacer).

Etymology

First attested in the Myobeomnyeonhwagyeong eonhae (妙法蓮華經諺解 / 묘법연화경언해), 1463, as Middle Korean ᄆᆞᆯᄯᆞᆼ구우리 (Yale: molstongkwuwuli).

Possibly a compound of 말똥 (malttong, “horse faeces”) (itself from 말 (mal, “horse”) and 똥 (ttong, “faeces”)) and the verb 구르— (gureu-) / 굴— (gul-, “to roll”), with a nominalisation agent suffix —이 (-i, “the thing which ...”), i.e. literally, "a horse faeces roller".

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ma̠ɭt͈o̞ŋɡuɾi]
• Phonetic hangul: [말똥구리]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	malttongguri
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	mal'ttongguli
McCune–Reischauer?	malttongguri
Yale Romanization?	malttongkwuli

Noun

말똥구리 • (malttongguri)

1. dung beetle

Synonyms

• 쇠똥구리 (soettongguri) / 소똥구리 (sottongguri, “literally, a 'cow faeces roller'”)
• 쇠똥벌레 (soettongbeolle)
• 강랑 (蜣蜋, gangnang)
• 길강 (蛣蜣, gilgang)
• 퇴환 (推丸, toehwan)