What does 사람살이 mean?

 ANSWER: life?

The word 사람 means "people," and 살이 is a suffix that means "living" or "life," so 사람살이 literally means "lives of people" or "human life."  살이 comes from the verb 살다, which means "to live." But 사람살이 is not in my Korean-English dictionary, which was published in 1998, so it seems to be a fairly new word. I suspect that Koreans created the word as a pure-Korean substitute for the Sino-Korean word 인생 (人生), which also literally means "human (人) life (生)." If it were an older word, wouldn't it be in my dictionary? And what is 인생살이: "human (人) life's (生) life (살이)"? It's not in my dictionary, either.

But here are some -살이 words that are in my dictionary:

• 감옥살이 - prison life
• 겨우살이 - (1) winter clothes, (2) passing the winter; (3) a mistletoe
• 곁방살이 - living in a rented room
• 고공살이 - the life of a farmhand; the life of a hireling
• 고생살이 - a hard life
• 고용살이 - the life of an employee
• 고을살이 - service as a district headman
• 남의집살이 - domestic service; living out (as a maid); working as a domestic servant
• 단가살이 - the house (or life) of a small family
• 더부살이 - a resident (live-in) servant
• 드난살이 - live in a family as a servant
• 막살이 - a rough (haphazard, reckless) life
• 머슴살이 - serving as a farmhand
• 벼슬살이 - life as an official; an official career
• 살림살이 - housekeeping; a household
• 세상살이 - the way of living; the mode of life
• 셋방살이 - living in a rented room
• 시집살이 - married life in the home of the husband's parents
• 신접살이 - life in a new home; starting housekeeping
• 여러해살이(풀) - a perennial (plant)
• 여름살이 - summer clothes
• 외방살이 - life as a government official out in the provinces
• 움막살이 - life in a mud hut (dugout)
• 움집살이 - life in a dugout hut
• 제살이 - self-support; 제살이하다 earn one's own living
• 죽살이 - (a matter of) life and death; 죽살이치다 make desperate efforts
• 징역살이 - a prison life; a life behind bars
• 처가살이 - living at one's wife's house
• 타향살이 - life away from home
• 피난살이 - a refugee life
• 하루살이 - a day fly; a May fly
• 한해살이 - an annual plant; annuals
• 행랑살이 - the life of a (resident) servant