최애

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 最愛, from 最 (“most”) + 愛 (“love”).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ˈt͡ɕʰwe̞(ː)ɛ] ~ [ˈt͡ɕʰø̞(ː)ɛ] ~ [ˈt͡ɕʰwe̞(ː)e̞] ~ [ˈt͡ɕʰø̞(ː)e̞]
• Phonetic hangul: [췌(ː)애/최(ː)애/췌(ː)에/최(ː)에]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	choeae
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	choeae
McCune–Reischauer?	ch'oeae
Yale Romanization?	chōy.ay

Noun

최애 • (choeae) (hanja 最愛)

1. (colloquial, attributive) favorite

   최애 프사 ― choeae peusa ― favorite profile pic

   최애 음식 ― choeae eumsik ― favorite food

2. (idol fandom) bias (favorite member of the idol group)

   Coordinate term: 차애(次愛) (chaae, “second bias”)

Derived terms

• 최애(最愛)하다 (choeaehada, “to consider as favorite, to prefer”)