First attested in the Yongbi eocheon'ga (龍飛御天歌 / 용비어천가), 1447, as Middle Korean ᄂᆞᆷ〮 (Yale: nóm).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):

  • Audio:

    (file)

• Phonetic hangul:

• South Gyeongsang (Busan) pitch accent: 남의 / 남에 / 남까지

  Syllables in red take high pitch. This word always takes high pitch and also heightens the next suffixed syllable, unless it is 에.

남 • (nam)

1. other person, other people; someone other than the self

   Antonym: 나 (na, “I; me”)

2. stranger, someone one does not know

   우리 고등학교 동창인데 왜 남 취급해?

   uri godeunghakgyo dongchang-inde wae nam chwigeuphae?

   We used to go to the same high school, why are you treating me like someone you don't know?

Sino-Korean word from 男 (“man”), from the Middle Korean reading 남 (Yale: nàm).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):

  • Audio:

    (file)

• Phonetic hangul:

남 • (nam) (hanja 男)

1. (formal) man, male

   Coordinate term: 여(女) (yeo, “woman; female”)

2. short for 남작(男爵) (namjak, “baron”)
3. son; used only when counting the number of children

   Coordinate term: 녀(女) (nyeo, “daughter”)

   나는 2남 2녀 중 막내다.

   Naneun 2nam 2nyeo jung mangnae-da.

   I am the youngest (child) among two sons and two daughters.

Korean has a number of words equivalent to English "man" and "woman".

1. Sino-Korean 남자(男子) (namja, “boy; guy; man”) and 여자(女子) (yeoja, “girl; woman”) are the most common words, but can have a somewhat informal connotation.

   걔는 남자야? — 아니, 여자야.

   Gyae-neun namja-ya? - ani, yeoja-ya.

   Is he/she a guy? — No, she's a girl.

   남자친구 / 여자친구

   namja-chin'gu / yeoja-chin'gu

   boyfriend / girlfriend

2. Sino-Korean 남성(男性) (namseong, “male; men”) and 여성(女性) (yeoseong, “female; women”) refer to men and women as groups—though pluralized 남자들 (namja-deul, “the boys; the guys; the men”) and 여자들 (yeoja-deul, “the girls; the women”) is informally more common for this purpose—or to individual adult men and women in formal or polite contexts.

   여성 인권 운동 ― yeoseong in'gwon undong ― women's rights movement, feminism

   20대 남성이 실종되었습니다. (in a news report)

   20dae namseong-i siljongdoe-eot-seumnida.

   A man in his twenties has gone missing.

3. Sino-Korean 여인(女人) (yeoin, “woman”) is literary. There is no male counterpart.

   여인의 향기 (movie title) ― yeoin-ui hyanggi ― Scent of a Woman

4. The bare Sino-Korean morphemes 남(男) (nam, “male”) and 여(女) (yeo, “female”) is generally used in formal contexts, especially when referring to each gender as a collective but also for male or female individuals in more legalistic contexts. They are commonly written in hanja even when the rest of the text is in pure Hangul script.

   남과 여의 만남

   nam-gwa yeo-ui mannam

   the meeting of Man and Woman

5. Native 사내 (sanae, “man”) and 계집 (gyejip, “woman”) are not as commonly used. 사내 (sanae) often has a connotation of machismo or manliness, while 계집 (gyejip) has become offensive and derogatory.

Note that in Early Modern Korean (1600—c. 1900) and in contemporary Standard North Korean, Sino-Korean 여(女) (yeo, “female”) is written and pronounced 녀 (nyeo), hence 녀자(女子) (nyeoja), 녀성(女性) (nyeoseong), 녀인(女人) (nyeoin).

• 아들 (adeul, “son (in general)”)

남— • (nam-) (hanja 男)

1. (before nouns referring to people) man, male

   Coordinate term: 여(女)- (yeo-, “woman; female”)

   남고딩 ― namgoding ― male high schooler

—남 • (-nam) (hanja 男)

1. man (who is characterized by this)

   Coordinate term: -녀(女) (-nyeo, “woman; female”)

   짝남 ― jjangnam ― the guy I have a crush on

   썸남 ― sseomnam ― the guy I'm flirting with

   유부남 ― yubunam ― married man

• See the hanja entry at 男 for Sino-Korean compounds of 남 (男, nam).

Sino-Korean word from 南 (“south”), from the Middle Korean reading 남 (Yale: nàm).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):

  • Audio:

    (file)

• Phonetic hangul:

남 • (nam) (hanja 南)

1. (formal in isolation, more common in writing) south

   Synonym: (more common in isolation) 남(南)쪽 (namjjok)

   Antonym: 북(北) (buk, “north”)

compass points:  

서북(西北) (seobuk) 북서(北西) (bukseo)	북(北) (buk)	동북(東北) (dongbuk) 북동(北東) (bukdong)
서(西) (seo)		동(東) (dong)
서남(西南) (seonam) 남서(南西) (namseo)	남(南) (nam)	동남(東南) (dongnam) 남동(南東) (namdong)

• See the hanja entry at 南 for Sino-Korean compounds of 남 (南, nam).

남 • (Nam) (hanja 南)

1. short for 남한(南韓)/남조선(南朝鮮) (namhan/namjoseon, “South Korea”)

   Antonym: 북(北) (buk, “North Korea”)

In news headlines, this is usually written solely in the hanja form, even in contemporary Korean text otherwise devoid of any Hanja.

Modern Korean reading of various Chinese characters, from the Middle Korean reading 남 (Yale: nam).

남 • (nam)

Modern South Korean reading of various Chinese characters in isolation or as the first element of a compound, which was also true of most dialects (both North and South) in 1945. From Middle Korean 람 (Yale: lam); when preceded by another character in a compound, they retain the original 람 (ram) form.

In the North Korean standard, they are always read as 람 (ram), but this is an artificial imposition intended to standardize Sino-Korean readings, which did not reflect any major dialect's pronunciation in 1945.

남 • (nam)