일곱

Likely from Middle Korean 닐굽〮 (nìlkwúp) and cognate with Korean 일곱 (ilgop).

• (Morphophonemic) IPA^(key): ⫽ilkop⫽
• (Jeju City) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

일곱 (ilgop)

1. (native numeral) seven

   Synonym: (Sino-Korean) 칠 (chil)

일곱 (ilgop)

1. seven years of age (for cows)

   Near-synonym: (for horses) 칠수 (chilsu)

• 송상조 [songsangjo] (2023) “일곱”, in 20세기 제주말 큰사전 [20segi jejumal keunsajeon], 한국문화사 [han'gungmunhwasa], →ISBN, page 648

• 제주문화예술재단 [jejumunhwayesuljaedan] (2009) “일곱”, in 개정증보 제주어사전 [gaejeongjeungbo jejueosajeon]‎, 제주특별자치도 [jejuteukbyeoljachido], →ISBN, page 720

First attested in the Jīlín lèishì (鷄林類事 / 계림유사), 1103, as Late Old Korean 一急 */ʔiɪt̚ kiɪp̚/. In the hangul script, first attested in the Yongbi eocheon'ga (龍飛御天歌 / 용비어천가), 1447, as Middle Korean 닐굽〮 (Yale: nìlkwúp).

Beyond this, the reconstruction of the ancestral Koreanic root for "seven" is difficult. See a list of relevant attestations and forms in Appendix:Historical Koreanic numerals#Seven.

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

일곱 • (ilgop)

1. (native numeral) seven

   Synonym: 칠(七) (“seven”, Sino-Korean numeral)

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.