천민

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 賤民 (“person of the lowest social status; riffraff”).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ˈt͡ɕʰɘ(ː)nmin]
• Phonetic hangul: [천(ː)민]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	cheonmin
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	cheonmin
McCune–Reischauer?	ch'ŏnmin
Yale Romanization?	chēnmin

Proper noun

천민 • (Cheonmin) (hanja 賤民)

1. person of the lowest social status; riffraff
2. (historical, in particular) a member of the lowest caste within the Joseon caste system