그녀

Korean

Etymology

Calque from Japanese 彼女(か​のじょ) (ka​nojo), coined by Kim Dong-in. 그 (geu) +‎ 녀(女) (nyeo). The noun meaning was created due to the literary overtones of the pronoun, possibly with influence from Japanese 彼女(か​のじょ) (ka​nojo).

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio:

    (file)

• Phonetic hangul: [그녀]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	geunyeo
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	geunyeo
McCune–Reischauer?	kŭnyŏ
Yale Romanization?	kunye

Pronoun

그녀 • (geunyeo) (hanja 그女)

1. (literary) she

   Synonym: (literary, archaic) 궐녀(厥女) (gwollyeo)

   그녀는 힘으로는 그를 이길 수 없기에 다른 방법을 강구해야 했다.

   Geunyeo-neun him-euro-neun geu-reul igil su eopgi-e dareun bangbeob-eul gangguhaeya haetda.

   She couldn't beat him with her strength, so she had to figure out another way.

   그녀는 나에게 어떻게 수영하는지를 가르쳤다.

   Geunyeo-neun na-ege eotteoke suyeonghaneunji-reul gareucheotda.

   She taught me how to swim.

   그녀의 추억은 슬픔을 띤 것이었다.

   Geunyeoui chueog-eun seulpeum-eul ttin geos-ieotda.

   Her memory was tinged with sorrow.

Noun

그녀 • (geunyeo) (hanja 그女)

1. (rather colloquial) girlfriend; crush; a woman that one is romantically interested in

   첫눈에 반한 그녀

   cheonnun-e banhan geunyeo

   the girl that I fell in love with at first sight

Usage notes

• While comparable to Japanese 彼女, 그녀 (geunyeo) is significantly more unnatural in speech, in both pronoun and noun senses. The pronoun in particular is almost never used in speech unless in a deliberately literary register.
• The pronoun is often followed by the topic marker 는 (neun), which makes it indistinguishable in speech from the vulgar phrase 그년은 (geunyeon-eun, “as for that bitch”), which is much more widespread in the spoken language. This may contribute to speakers avoiding the pronoun.