사내

Korean

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰa̠nɛ] ~ [sʰa̠ne̞]
• Phonetic hangul: [사내/사네]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	sanae
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	sanae
McCune–Reischauer?	sanae
Yale Romanization?	sanay

Etymology 1

First attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean ᄮᅡᄒᆡ〮 (Yale: snàhóy), from ᄉᆞᆫ〮 (Yale: són, young man) + 아ᄒᆡ〮 (Yale: àhóy, “child”). Originally meant "man" in general, but it has been largely displaced by Sino-Korean.

Alternative forms

• 사나이 (sanai)

Noun

사내 • (sanae)

1. a lad; a young man, especially a manly one

   젊은 사내 ― jeolmeun sanae ― a young lad

   어느 중국인 사내가 한 시경에 그것을 내다 버렸습니다. ― Eoneu junggugin sanaega han sigyeong'e geugeoseul naeda beoryeotseumnida. ― A Chinese man dumped it around one.

2. (dated) man (in general)
3. (dated or archaic) husband

Usage notes

Korean has a number of words equivalent to English "man" and "woman".

1. Sino-Korean 남자 (男子, namja, “boy; guy; man”) and 여자 (女子, yeoja, “girl; woman”) are the most common words, but can have a somewhat informal connotation.

   걔는 남자야? — 아니, 여자야.

   Gyae-neun namja-ya? - ani, yeoja-ya.

   Is he/she a guy? — No, she's a girl.

   남자친구 / 여자친구

   namja-chin'gu / yeoja-chin'gu

   boyfriend / girlfriend

2. Sino-Korean 남성 (男性, namseong, “male; men”) and 여성 (女性, yeoseong, “female; women”) refer to men and women as groups—though pluralized 남자들 (namja-deul, “the boys; the guys; the men”) and 여자들 (yeoja-deul, “the girls; the women”) is informally more common for this purpose—or to individual adult men and women in formal or polite contexts.

   여성 인권 운동

   yeoseong in'gwon undong

   women's rights movement, feminism

   20대 남성이 실종되었습니다. (in a news report)

   20dae namseong-i siljongdoe-eot-seumnida.

   A man in his twenties has gone missing.

3. Sino-Korean 여인 (女人, yeoin, “woman”) is literary. There is no male counterpart.

   여인의 향기 (movie title)

   yeoin-ui hyanggi

   Scent of a Woman

4. The bare Sino-Korean morphemes 남 (男, nam, “male”) and 여 (女, yeo, “female”) is generally used in formal contexts, especially when referring to each gender as a collective but also for male or female individuals in more legalistic contexts. They are commonly written in hanja even when the rest of the text is in pure Hangul script.

   남과 여의 만남

   nam-gwa yeo-ui mannam

   the meeting of Man and Woman

5. Native 사내 (sanae, “man”) and 계집 (gyejip, “woman”) are not as commonly used. 사내 (sanae) often has a connotation of machismo or manliness, while 계집 (gyejip) has become offensive and derogatory.

Note that in Early Modern Korean (1600—c. 1900) and in contemporary Standard North Korean, Sino-Korean 여 (女, yeo, “female”) is written and pronounced 녀 (nyeo), hence 녀자 (女子, nyeoja), 녀성 (女性, nyeoseong), 녀인 (女人, nyeoin).

Related terms

• 시나이 (sinai, “husband of another woman”)

Etymology 2

Sino-Korean word from 寺 (“temple”) + 內 (“interior”).

Noun

사내 • (sanae) (hanja 寺內)

1. (Buddhism) interior of a Buddhist temple facility

Etymology 3

Sino-Korean word from 社 + 內 (“interior”).

Noun

사내 • (sanae) (hanja 社內)

1. interior environment of a working space (implying the existence of affairs within a working environment)

Derived terms

• 사내정치 (社內政治, sanaejeongchi, “workplace politics”)