아빠

Korean

Etymology

아비 (abi, “father”) +‎ -아 (-a, “hey”, vocative particle). The final /i/ in 아비 (abi) was dropped regularly; see Usage Notes in 이#noun suffix.

Korean colloquial family terms commonly stem from a fused vocative. See Category:Korean terms suffixed with -아 (vocative).

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio:

    (file)

• Phonetic hangul: [아빠]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	appa
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	a'ppa
McCune–Reischauer?	appa
Yale Romanization?	a.ppa

Noun

아빠 • (appa)

1. (colloquial) dad, papa

   Synonyms: 아버지 (abeoji, “father”), 부친(父親) (buchin, “father”, formal), 부(父) (bu, “father”, legalistic)

   Coordinate term: 엄마 (eomma, “mom, mommy”)

   그 가족은 아빠, 엄마, 두 아이, 이렇게 네 명입니다.

   Geu gajog-eun appa, eomma, du ai, ireoke ne myeong-imnida.

   There are four people in the family: a father, a mother, and two children.

Usage notes

2015 study by the National Institute of the Korean Language

How do you refer to your male parent?
Age cohort	16 to 25	26 to 35	36 to 45	46 to 55	56 to 65	65 or above
아빠 (appa, “Dad”)	60 respondents (87%)	39 respondents (68%)	19 respondents (58%)	15 respondents (23%)	0 respondents (0%)	3 respondents (5%)
아버지 (abeoji, “Father”)	9 respondents (13%)	18 respondents (32%)	12 respondents (36%)	48 respondents (75%)	23 respondents (100%)	50 respondents (93%)
Other	0 respondents	0 respondents	2 respondents	1 respondent	0 respondents	1 respondent

Contrast with Usage Notes at 엄마 (eomma, “mom”).