셋

Jeju

Etymology

Of native Jeju origin. Cognate with Korean 셋 (set).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sʰe̞ːt̚/

Numeral

셋 (set)

1. three

Alternative forms

• 싯 (sit)
• 서 (seo) (before ㄷ (d), ㅁ (m), ㅂ (b), ㅍ (p))
• 석 (seok) (before ㄴ (n), ㄷ (d), ㅅ (s), ㅈ (j))
• 세 (se) (with counters)

Synonyms

• 삼 (sam) (三) (Sino-Korean)

See also

• 설룬 (seollun) thirty

Korean

Etymology 1

First attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean 셓〯 (Yale: sěyh). A form similar to the Middle Korean is first attested in the twelfth-century Jilin leishi, which gives the Korean word for "three" as */sai/.

Beyond the Leishi, the reconstruction of the ancestral Koreanic root for "three" is difficult, although Alexander Vovin (Vovin 2010, p. 180) posits Proto-Koreanic *seki as the direct antecedent (via metathesis) of Middle Korean sěyh, on the strength of the Middle Korean form 석〯 (Yale: sěk, “three”, determiner form taken before certain classifiers). See a list of relevant attestations and forms in Appendix:Historical Koreanic numerals#Three.

Pronunciation

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

Numeral

셋 • (set)

1. (native numeral) three (independently, without a classifier)

Usage notes

In modern Korean, numbers are usually written in Arabic numerals.

The Korean language has two sets of numerals: a native set of numerals inherited from Old Korean, and a Sino-Korean set which was borrowed from Middle Chinese in the first millennium C.E.

Native classifiers take native numerals.

• 개 한 마리 (gae han mari, “one dog”, native numeral)
• 나무 두 그루 (namu du geuru, “two trees”, native numeral)

Some Sino-Korean classifiers take native numerals, others take Sino-Korean numerals, while yet others take both.

• 종이 두 장(張) (jong'i du jang, “two sheets of paper”, native numeral)
• 이 분(分) (i bun, “two minutes”, Sino-Korean numeral)
• 서른/삼십 명(名) (seoreun/samsip myeong, “thirty people”, both sets possible)

Recently loaned classifiers generally take Sino-Korean numerals.

• 일 킬로미터 (il killomiteo, “one kilometer”, Sino-Korean numeral)

For many terms, a native numeral has a quantifying sense, whereas a Sino-Korean numeral has a sense of labeling.

• 세 반(班) (se ban, “three school classes”, native numeral)
• 삼 반(班) (sam ban, “Class Number Three”, Sino-Korean numeral)

When used in isolation, native numerals refer to objects of that number and are used in counting and quantifying, whereas Sino-Korean numerals refer to the numbers in a more mathematical sense.

• 하나만 더 주세요 (hana-man deo juse-yo, “Could you give me just one more, please”, native numeral)
• 일 더하기 일은? (il deohagi ir-eun?, “What's one plus one?”, Sino-Korean numeral)

While older stages of Korean had native numerals up to the thousands, native numerals currently exist only up to ninety-nine, and Sino-Korean is used for all higher numbers. There is also a tendency—particularly among younger speakers—to uniformly use Sino-Korean numerals for the higher tens as well, so that native numerals such as 일흔 (ilheun, “seventy”) or 아흔 (aheun, “ninety”) are becoming less common.

Related terms

• 서 (seo, “three”, determiner before certain words, fossilized)
• 석 (seok, “three”, determiner before certain words, fossilized)

See also

• 서른 (seoreun, “thirty”)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Hebrew שֵׁת (Šet).

Proper noun

셋 • (Set)

1. (biblical) Seth (the third son of Adam and Eve)