Wednesday, February 23, 2022

What's the difference between a Chinese groom and a Korean groom, and a Chinese bride and a Korean bride?

 ANSWER: There is no difference between a Chinese groom and a Korean groom since they both use the same Chinese characters (新郞 신랑), which literally mean "new (新) man (郞)," but there is a difference between the Chinese characters used for a Chinese "bride" (新娘 신랑) and a Korean "bride" (新婦 신부), though they both literally mean "new (新) woman (娘 / 婦)."

So, why is the Chinese word for "bride" different from the Korean word? Because if Koreans used the Chinese word for "bride," then in Korean, "bride" (新娘 신랑) and "groom" (新郞) would be pronounced the same since the Chinese characters (낭/랑) and (낭/랑) are pronounced the same in Korean while they are pronounced differently in Chinese, at least that is what I suspect is the reason.

In the past, 娘子 (낭자) was a respectful way to refer to "a maiden," "a virgin," "a girl," or "a woman," and 郎子 (낭자) was a respectful way to refer to "an unmarried man," but you would need to see the Chinese characters to know which was which.

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

From 동아 새國語辭典

From Understanding Chinese: A Guide to the Usage of Chinese Characters

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