머리

Korean

Etymology

First attested in the Yongbi eocheon'ga (龍飛御天歌 / 용비어천가), 1447, as Middle Korean 머리〮 (Yale: mèlí).

Also attested in the Worin cheon'gangjigok (月印千江之曲 / 월인천강지곡), 1449, as Middle Korean 마리〮 (Yale: màlí).

Originally identical to the modern animal classifier 마리 (mari).

Beyond Middle Korean, attested in the twelfth-century Jilin leishi word-list as 麻帝 (má dì) *mati, thus a case of intervocalic lenition. Perhaps cognate with Middle Korean ᄆᆞᆮ (mot, “eldest child”), modern 맞이 (maji), but the vocalism is different.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [mʌ̹ɾi]

  • (file)

• Phonetic hangul: [머리]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	meori
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	meoli
McCune–Reischauer?	mŏri
Yale Romanization?	meli

South Gyeongsang (Busan) pitch accent: 머리의 / 머리에 / 머리까지

Syllables in red take high pitch. This word always takes high pitch only on the first syllable, and lowers the pitch of subsequent suffixes.

Noun

머리 • (meori)

1. head
2. intelligence
3. hair
4. the leader of a group
5. the radical at the top of a Chinese character
6. the top or front of an object

Derived terms

• 곱슬머리 (gopseulmeori)
• 머리빡 (meorippak)
• 머리하다 (meorihada)

See also

• 마리 (mari)
• 두상 (頭上, dusang)
• 대가리 (daegari)
• 두발 (頭髮, dubal)
• 머리카락 (meorikarak)
• 뇌 (腦, noe)

References

• National Institute of the Korean Language (Naver.com mirror) (accessed 2006-12-31), “머리”, in 표준국어대사전‎^[1]
• Seo Jeong-beom (서정범) (2000), “머리”, in 國(국)語(어)語(어)源(원)辭(사)典(전), Seoul: Bogosa Books, page 246