똥개

Korean

Etymology

From 똥 (ttong, “dung”) +‎ ㅅ (-s-, genitive interfix; omitted from the spelling, but this causes the tense phonation of the following consonant) +‎ 개 (gae, “cur, dog”), supposedly because these dogs were thought to eat dung in the streets.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͈o̞ŋk͈ɛ] ~ [t͈o̞ŋk͈e̞]
• Phonetic hangul: [똥깨/똥께]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	ttonggae
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	ttonggae
McCune–Reischauer?	ttongkae
Yale Romanization?	ttongqkay

Noun

똥개 • (ttonggae)

1. (colloquial) a mongrel dog, a mutt dog

   Synonyms: 잡종견(雜種犬) (japjonggyeon), 시고르잡종 (sigoreujapjong)

2. (original meaning) an unowned dog in the neighborhood