천조국

Korean

Etymology

Originally a

    Sino-Korean word from 天朝 (“Celestial Empire”) + 國 (“country”), with the implied criticism that South Korea is a self-deprecating vassal state of America in the same way that dynastic Korea used to revere China as the Empire of Heaven.

    Now generally reinterpreted as a Sino-Korean word from 千兆 (“quadrillion”) + 國 (“country”), satirizing the fact that the United States military budget, when rounded up, is equivalent to a quadrillion South Korean won.

    Pronunciation

    • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [t͡ɕʰʌ̹ɲd͡ʑo̞ɡuk̚]
    • Phonetic hangul: [천조국]
    Romanizations
    Revised Romanization?Cheonjoguk
    Revised Romanization (translit.)?Cheonjogug
    McCune–Reischauer?Ch'ŏnjoguk
    Yale Romanization?chen.cokwuk

    Proper noun

    천조국 • (Cheonjoguk) (hanja 千兆國)

    1. (slang, humorous) synonym of 미국(美國) (Miguk, “America, United States of America (a country in North America)”)
    This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.