아이

Korean

Etymology 1

First attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean 아ᄒᆡ〮 (Yale: àhóy), from earlier Old Korean 阿孩 (*ahoy). While the word is native, the second syllable was identified already in the 8th-century hyangga poem Anmin-ga with Middle Chinese 孩 (ɦʌi, “child”). Historically, the word was often mistakenly perceived as Sino-Korean, with the spelling 兒孩, a phono-semantic matching. See 아해 (ahae).

Alternative forms

애 (ae) — contraction
아해(兒孩) (ahae) — dated

Pronunciation

(SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [a̠i]
- Audio: (file)
Phonetic hangul: [아이]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization^?	ai
Revised Romanization (translit.)^?	ai
McCune–Reischauer^?	ai
Yale Romanization^?	ai

South Gyeongsang (Busan) pitch accent: 아이의 / 아이에 / 아이까지
Syllables in red take high pitch. This word always takes high pitch only on the first syllable, and lowers the pitch of subsequent suffixes.

Noun

아이 • (ai)

child, kid
Synonym: (polite) 어린이 (eorini)

아이가 무엇을 가지고 놉니까? ― aiga mueoseul gajigo nomnikka? ― What is a kid playing with?
- 2007, Han Kang, 채식주의자 [chaesikjuuija, The Vegetarian], 22nd edition, Paju, Republic of Korea: Changbi, published 2016, →ISBN, page 155:
  마침내 새벽 이 되어 아이의 이마 를 만져 보았을 때 그녀 는 손바닥 에 느껴지는 서늘함 에 안도했고, 안방 을 나가 거실 베란다 로 드는 푸르스름한 박명 을 물끄러미 바라보았다.
  Machimnae saebyeog-i doeeo ai-ui ima-reul manjeo-boasseul ttae geunyeo-neun sonbadag-e neukkyeojineun seoneulham-e andohaetgo, anbang-eul naga geosil beranda-ro deuneun pureuseureumhan bangmyeong-eul mulkkeureomi baraboatda.
  When it was finally dawn and she touched the child's forehead, she was relieved at the coolness she felt on her palm. She left the inside room and stared vacantly at the bluish twilight that penetrated the living room veranda.
(endearing) Used to refer to objects, typically in casual but polite settings such as when persuading a customer to buy a product.
Less colloquial form of 애 (ae, “guy; person”).

Usage notes

(guy; person):

As 애 (ae, “guy; person”) is extremely colloquial, 아이 (ai) is sometimes used to replace it in less colloquial writing, especially in the pronominal forms 걔 (gyae), 얘 (yae), 쟤 (jae). This is less common in speech.
Such a replacement is even rarer when 애 (ae) is being used non-pronominally, because 아이 (ai) is perceived as being neither sufficiently colloquial as 애 (ae) nor sufficiently non-colloquial as e.g. 사람 (saram). It is very normal, if highly colloquial, to refer to American people in general as 미국 애들 (miguk ae-deul), but 미국 아이들 (miguk ai-deul) will usually refer specifically to American children.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English i.

Pronunciation

(SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [a̠i]
Phonetic hangul: [아이]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization^?	ai
Revised Romanization (translit.)^?	ai
McCune–Reischauer^?	ai
Yale Romanization^?	ai

Noun

아이 • (ai)

The name of the Latin-script letter I/i.

Coordinate terms

(Latin-script letter names) 에이 (ei), 비 (bi), 씨 (ssi), 디 (di), 이 (i), 에프 (epeu), 쥐 (jwi), 에이치 (eichi) 아이 (ai), 제이 (jei), 케이 (kei), 엘 (el), 엠 (em), 엔 (en), 오 (o), 피 (pi), 큐 (kyu), 알 (al), 에스 (eseu), 티 (ti), 유 (yu), 브이 (beu'i), 더블유 (deobeuryu), 엑스 (ekseu), 와이 (wai), 제드 (jedeu)/지 (ji) ^{(Category: ko:Latin letter names)}