고유

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 固有 (“characteristic of, innate, intrinsic, inherent”). Cognate with Japanese 固有(こゆう) (koyū, “characteristic of, particular to”).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ko̞ju]

  • Audio:

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• Phonetic hangul: [고유]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	goyu
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	goyu
McCune–Reischauer?	koyu
Yale Romanization?	ko.yu

Noun

고유 • (goyu) (hanja 固有)

1. characteristics, essence, uniqueness, inherence

   고유 문자 ― goyu munja ― letters native to a country

   고유 식물 ― goyu singmul ― indigenous flora

   한 나라의 고유문자를 만들다 ― han nara-ui goyumunja-reul mandeulda ― to create a country's own written language

2. (grammar) the identity of a particular person; the characteristic of an ethnic group

   고유 명사 ― goyu myeongsa ― proper noun

Usage notes

In the grammatical sense, 고유 (goyu) is often used attributively and translated as "proper", i.e., 고유명사 (goyumyeongsa, “proper noun”). See also Category:Korean proper nouns.

Derived terms

• 고유(固有)하다 (goyuhada, “unique”)
• 고유명사(固有名詞) (goyumyeongsa, “proper noun, proper name”)