선무당

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Korean[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Univerbation of (seon, inexperienced, awkward) +‎ 무당 (mudang, shaman).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [ˈsʰɘ(ː)nmuda̠ŋ]
  • Phonetic hangul: [(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?seonmudang
Revised Romanization (translit.)?seonmudang
McCune–Reischauer?sŏnmudang
Yale Romanization?sēnmutang

Noun[edit]

선무당 (seonmudang)

  1. (shamanism) an inexperienced novice priest or shaman
    Synonym: 애동제자 (aedongjeja)
    Antonym: 큰무당 (keunmudang, great priest, accomplished priest)
    Hypernyms: 무속인(巫俗人) (musogin), 무당(巫堂) (mudang); see also Thesaurus:무속인
  2. (figurative) a novice in any field
  3. (figurative) someone who actually knows little or is incompetent, but believes themselves to be knowledgeable or competent

Derived terms[edit]

(proverbs)

  • 선무당이 사람 잡는다 (seonmudang'i saram jamneunda, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, literally the novice shaman kills the person [that they were trying to heal])
  • 선무당이 사람 속인다 (seonmudang'i saram soginda, (of an incompetent person) to successfully trick someone into believing something, literally the novice shaman fools a person)
  • 선무당이 장구 탓한다 (seonmudang'i janggu tathanda, (of a novice) to blame circumstances rather than one's own lack of practice, literally the novice shaman blames the drums)