선남선녀

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 선남(善男) (seonnam, “pious man”) + 선녀(善女) (seonnyeo, “pious woman”). Compare Chinese 善男信女 (shànnán xìnnǚ).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ˈsʰɘ(ː)nna̠msʰɘ(ː)nɲʌ̹]
• Phonetic hangul: [선(ː)남선(ː)녀]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	seonnamseonnyeo
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	seonnamseonnyeo
McCune–Reischauer?	sŏnnamsŏnnyŏ
Yale Romanization?	sēnnamsēnnye

Noun

선남선녀 • (seonnamseonnyeo) (hanja 善男善女) (four-character idiom from Classical Chinese)

1. attractive man and attractive woman

   선남선녀의 연애

   seonnamseonnyeo-ui yeonae

   relationship between a hot guy and girl

2. (Buddhism, original sense) Buddhist believers at large