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무슨. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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Korean
Etymology
First attested in the Gwonyyeom yorok (勸念要錄 / 권념요록), 1637, as Early Modern Korean 므슨 (Yale: musun), probably a hypercorrection of Middle Korean 므슴〮 (Yale: mùsúm) that was motivated by the adnominal suffix 은 (-eun) common in determiners.
Variants of 므슴〮 (Yale: mùsúm) with final ㅁ (m), e.g. 무슴 (museum) and 무삼 (musam), remained more common than 므슨 or 무슨 until the mid-nineteenth century and are still used by some older speakers of Gyeongsang dialect.
Pronunciation
| Romanizations |
|---|
| Revised Romanization? | museun |
|---|
| Revised Romanization (translit.)? | museun |
|---|
| McCune–Reischauer? | musŭn |
|---|
| Yale Romanization? | musun |
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Determiner
무슨 • (museun)
- (in questions) what, what kind of
무슨 일을 하세요?- Museun ir-eul haseyo?
- What kind of work do you do?
- (in statements) a certain, some; some kind of
무슨 일이 있어서 못 왔어.- Museun ir-i iss-eoseo mot wasseo.
- He couldn't come because he had some sort of work .
- what kind of; used for emphasis in a rhetorical question.
내가 그 짓을 하면 무슨 사람이 되는 거겠어?- Nae-ga geu jis-eul ha-myeon museun saram-i doeneun geo-gess-eo?
- If I did that, what kind of person would I be?
Usage notes
- 뭔 (mwon) and 무슨 (museun) are both common in speech. In written form, only the latter is accepted.
Alternative forms
- 뭔 (mwon) — contraction
- 무신 (musin), 므슨 (meuseun), 무순 (musun) — southern dialectal
- 므슴 (meuseum), 무슴 (museum), 무삼 (musam) — Early Modern, sometimes in contemporary Gyeongsang
Related terms
References
- 이광호 (Yi Gwang-ho) (2009) “'므스'와 '므슥/므슴/므슷'의 의미특성 및 형태변화 [meuseu wa meuseuk/meuseum/meuseut ui uimiteukseong mit hyeongtaebyeonhwa]”, in Gugeo gungmunhak, volume 151, pages 35—57
- 장요한 (Jang Yo-han) (2013) “중세국어 의문사 '므스'류의 교체 양상과 단일화 [jungsegugeo uimunsa meuseu ryuui gyoche yangsanggwa danilhwa]”, in Eoneowa jeongbo sahoe, volume 20, pages 235—259