띄어쓰기

Korean

Examples
못 하다 (mot hada, “unable”) 못하다 (mothada, “not be good at”)

Etymology

띄어쓰 (ttuieosseu, “to space (when writing)”) +‎ 기 (-gi, verbal nominalizer). Compare Japanese 分かち書き (wakachigaki, literally “dividing-writing”).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͈iʌ̹s͈ɯɡi]
• Phonetic hangul: [띠어쓰기]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	ttuieosseugi
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	ttuieo'sseugi
McCune–Reischauer?	ttŭiŏssŭgi
Yale Romanization?	ttuy.e.ssuki

Noun

띄어쓰기 • (ttuieosseugi)

South Korean Standard Language	띄어쓰기 (ttuieosseugi)
North Korean Standard Language	띄여쓰기 (ttuiyeosseugi)

1. usage of spaces when writing; writing as separate words

   Antonym: 붙여쓰기 (bucheosseugi)

   한국어의 띄어쓰기는 그리 쉽지 않다.

   Han'gugeo-ui ttuieosseugi-neun geuri swipji anta.

   The rules of spacing in Korean are not so easy.

Usage notes

• Korean was not written with spaces until Westernization in the twentieth century, and prescriptive spacing rules are highly inconsistent and often fail to match actual pauses in pronunciation. Hence this word is a much more important topic in Korean orthography than might be expected from an Anglophone perspective.

See also

• 맞춤법 (matchumbeop, “orthography”)