식자우환

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 識字憂患, from 識字 (“literacy”) + 憂患 (“misery”). Clipped from Literary Chinese 人生識字憂患始 (rénshēng shízì yōuhuàn shǐ, “misery of life start at literacy”), a line in the Chinese poem 石蒼舒醉墨堂 by Su Shi (蘇軾).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ɕʰik̚t͡ɕ͈a̠uβwa̠n]
• Phonetic hangul: [식짜우환]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	sikjauhwan
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	sigjauhwan
McCune–Reischauer?	sikchauhwan
Yale Romanization?	sikcawuhwan

Noun

식자우환 • (sikjauhwan) (hanja 識字憂患)

1. (four-character idiom from Classical Chinese) misery brought by literacy; ignorance is bliss