First attested in the Bak Tongsa eonhae (朴通事諺解 / 박통사언해), 1677, as Early Modern Korean 화냥년 (Yale: hwanyang-nyen).
From 화냥(花娘) (hwanyang, “prostitute”) + 년 (nyeon, “bitch; derogatory slur for a woman”). The first element was 화냐ᇰ (hwanyang) in Middle Korean, but underwent a regular sound shift to modern 화랑(花娘) (hwarang). 화냥년 (hwanyangnyeon) was unaffected by this change because of its vulgar nature and retained the Middle Korean pronunciation.
Folk etymology erroneously claims that the first element is 환향(還鄕) (hwanhyang, “to come home”), and that it was used to refer to women who were taken captive by the Manchus during the Qing invasion in 1636 and were eventually sent home, only to be rejected by their families who considered them sexually tainted by the barbaric Manchus.
| Romanizations | |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization? | hwanyangnyeon |
| Revised Romanization (translit.)? | hwanyangnyeon |
| McCune–Reischauer? | hwanyangnyŏn |
| Yale Romanization? | hwanyangnyen |
화냥년 • (hwanyangnyeon)