공칠과삼

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 功 (“merit”) + 七 (“seven”) + 過 (“fault”) + 三 (“three”), adapted from Deng Xiaoping's famous statement that Mao Zedong had done seventy percent well and thirty percent badly.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ko̞ŋt͡ɕʰiɭɡwa̠sʰa̠m]
• Phonetic hangul: [공칠과삼]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	gongchilgwasam
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	gongchilgwasam
McCune–Reischauer?	kongch'ilgwasam
Yale Romanization?	kongchil.kwasam

Noun

공칠과삼 • (gongchilgwasam) (hanja 功七過三)

1. (four-character idiom from Classical Chinese) more good than bad; overall beneficial, despite serious flaws
   • 2010, 김성동 [gimseongdong], “"6월 지방선거, 서울에서 제주까지 모두 질 수 있다" ["6wol jibangseon'geo, seoureseo jejukkaji modu jil su itda"]”, in Wolgan Chosun‎^[1]:

     저는 대한민국의 현대사를 긍정합니다. 물론 100%는 아니고, 공칠과삼(功七過三) 정도라고 봅니다.

     Jeo-neun Daehanmin'gug-ui hyeondaesa-reul geungjeong-hamnida. Mullon baekpeocenteu-neun anigo, gongchilgwasam jeongdo-rago bomnida.

     I affirm the positivities of South Korea's contemporary history. Not 100%, of course; I see it as 70% good, 30% bad.

   • 2018, 若(약)善(선) (pseudonym), 천마현신 5권 [cheonmahyeonsin 5gwon], munpia.com (web novel), →ISBN:

     소첩이 보기에 독고맹주는 공칠과삼으로 지난 세월 무림맹을 이끌면서 알게 모르게 많은 잘못이 있었지만, 그 잘못을 공적으로 덮을 만큼이나 공도 많아요.

     Socheob-i bogi-e Dokgomaengju-neun gongchilgwasam-euro jinan sewol murimmaeng-eul ikkeulmyeonseo alge moreuge maneun jalmos-i isseotjiman, geu jalmos-eul gongjeog-euro deopeul mankeum-ina gong-do mana-yo.

     As I see things, Leader Dokgo is seventy percent good, thirty percent bad; he did many wrong things, knowingly or not, while leading the band of heroes in past days, but he has also done enough good works to make up for those crimes with merit.