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Korean
Etymology
-하- (-ha-) + -이 (-i, adverb-deriving suffix).
Pronunciation
| Romanizations |
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| Revised Romanization? | hi |
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| Revised Romanization (translit.)? | hi |
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| McCune–Reischauer? | hi |
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| Yale Romanization? | hi |
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Suffix
-히 • (-hi)
- -ly; an adverb-deriving suffix, attaching primarily to adjectives formed by the light verb 하다 (hada).
- 솔직하다 (soljikhada, “to be honest”) + -히 (-hi) → 솔직히 (soljikhi, “honestly”)
- 깔끔하다 (kkalkkeumhada, “to be neat”) + -히 (-hi) → 깔끔히 (kkalkkeumhi, “neatly”)
Usage notes
Generally speaking, 히 (-hi) is used for adjectives formed by 하다 (hada). -이 (-i) is used for all non-하다 (hada) adjectives. -게 (-ge) can be used for both and is often interchangeable with other suffixes. However, there are exceptions.
- Some 하다 adjectives lose the consonant -ㅎ- (-h-) entirely, taking -이 (-i) instead. In the prescriptive standard of Seoul Korean, this happens in the following situations:
- If the non-하다 element ends in ㅅ (s), 이 is always used.
- 깨끗하— (kkaekkeutha-, “to be clean”) + -이 (-i) → 깨끗이 (kkaekkeusi, “cleanly”)
- If the non-하다 element ends in ㄱ (g), 이 is often used.
- 굵직하— (gukjikha-, “to be stout”) + -이 (-i) → 굵직이 (gukjigi, “stoutly”)
- A few 하다 adjectives only use -게 (-ge) and do not use 히 (-hi). There is no predictable rule for them.
- 행복하— (haengbokha-, “to be happy”) + -게 (-ge) → 행복하게 (haengbokhage, “happily”)
- For a few adverbs, the 히 form is prescriptively used despite being derived from non-하다 adjectives. However, most of these words have fallen out of use in spoken Korean. Note also that certain adverbs which originate as contractions of longer adverbs may use 히 even when there is no corresponding 하다 adjective for the contraction, and that some Sino-Korean adverbs with 히 have lost their adjectival counterpart entirely.
- In practice, many Seoul speakers will uniformly use 히 for all adverbs where the corresponding 하다 adjective remains current in the language.