상전벽해

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 桑田碧海 (“mulberry fields turn into blue oceans”).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰa̠ŋd͡ʑʌ̹nbjʌ̹kʰɛ] ~ [sʰa̠ŋd͡ʑʌ̹nbjʌ̹kʰe̞]
• Phonetic hangul: [상전벼캐/상전벼케]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	sangjeonbyeokhae
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	sangjeonbyeoghae
McCune–Reischauer?	sangjŏnbyŏkhae
Yale Romanization?	sangcenpyek.hay

Noun

상전벽해 • (sangjeonbyeokhae) (hanja 桑田碧海)

1. (four-character idiom from Classical Chinese) time brings drastic changes to the world, so that it feels even forests could turn into oceans (can be positive or negative)

   그토록 그리던 고향을 돌아오니 어릴 적 뛰놀던 개울이 바짝 말라버린 광경만이 그를 맞이했다. 상전벽해를 뼈저리게 절감했다.

   Geutorok geurideon gohyang-eul doraoni eoril jeok ttwinoldeon gae'ur-i bajjak mallabeorin gwanggyeong-man-i geu-reul majihaetda. Sangjeonbyeokhae-reul ppyeojeorige jeolgamhaetda.

   Only the scene of the now completely withered creek where he had once played about during his childhood was there to greet him when he returned to his hometown that he had longed for so much. He felt keenly the vicissitudes of life.

   • 1897, 聲(성)樂(악)元(원)祖(조) 歌(가)曲(곡):

     今(금)生(생)百(백)年(년) 다 놀고셔 來(내)生(생)百(백)年(년) 다시 노셰 / 桑(상)田(젼)碧(벽)海(해) 다 되도록 世(셰)世(셰)生(생)生(생) 니여 노셰

     geumsaeng baengnyeon da nolgosyeo naesaeng baengnyeon dasi nosye / sangjyeon byeokhae da doedorok syesye saengsaeng niyeo nosye

     Let us enjoy ourselves for all the hundred years of this life, and let us enjoy ourselves once more in the hundred years of the next life / until all the mulberry fields turn into blue oceans, let us enjoy ourselves in sequence, age after age and life after life.

   • 2021, “수도권 남서부 상전벽해... 기업·인구 몰려 [sudogwon namseobu sangjeonbyeokhae... gieop·in'gu mollyeo, The southwestern Seoul capital area in the throes of drastic transformation... companies, people crowd there]”, in ytn.co.kr, Yonhap News Agency:

     대규모 반도체 클러스터와 지식산업센터를 중심으로 기업과 사람이 몰리면서 수도권 남서부 일대가 그야말로 상전벽해 할거란 기대가 높아지고 있습니다.

     Daegyumo bandoche keulleoseuteo-wa jisiksaneopsenteo-reul jungsim-euro gieop-gwa saram-i mollimyeonseo sudogwon namseobu ildae-ga geuyamallo sangjeonbyeokhae halgeoran gidae-ga nopajigo itseumnida.

     As companies and people crowd around large-scale semiconductor [industrial] clusters and knowledge industry centers, there are heightened expectations that the region of the southwestern Seoul capital area will truly become drastically transformed.

See also

• 격세지감(隔世之感) (gyeoksejigam, “nostalgia provoked by the changes of the world”)
• 십년이면 강산도 변한다 (simnyeonimyeon gangsando byeonhanda)