백인 여자
The English phrase "white girl" is translated into Korean as 백인 여자.
백인 여자 is used as a descriptive way to identify a white woman or girl.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of 백인 (white person/race) and 여자 (woman/girl).
Which one should you use?
While 여자 can mean woman or girl, using 소녀 (girl) instead of 여자 would make the phrase sound more like a literary description of a young child rather than a natural way to identify someone's race.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
백인 여자 is a neutral, descriptive and relatively formal way to refer to a white woman or girl.
Did you know?
- In historical contexts, Westerners were sometimes called 양인 or 양인 여자, using a character that means 'ocean' to denote people from across the sea.
- The word 백인 uses the same character for 'white' as 백색, the color of purity and mourning in traditional Korean culture.
- The character 子 in 여자 originally meant 'child' or 'offspring', which is why many Sino-Korean nouns for people end with this character.
Examples in context
- 저 백인 여자는 누구예요?jeo baegin yeojaneun nugu-yeyo?Who is that white girl?
- 그 백인 여자는 친절해요.geu baegin yeojaneun chinjeol-haeyo.That white girl is kind.
- 백인 여자가 모델을 하고 있어요.baegin yeojaga model-eul hago isseoyo.A white girl is working as a model.
Example conversation
Dohyun and Seoyeon are looking at a crowd of tourists.
- 도현 Do-hyeon저기 백인 여자분이 계시네요.jeogi baegin yeoja-bun-i gye-si-ne-yo.There is a white girl over there.
- 서연 Seo-yeon맞아요, 외국인 관광객 같아요.ma-ja-yo, oegugin gwan-gwang-gaek gat-a-yo.Right, she looks like a foreign tourist.
- 도현 Do-hyeon길을 찾고 계신 것 같아요.gil-eul chat-go gye-sin geot gat-a-yo.I think she is looking for the way.
- 서연 Seo-yeon우리가 도와드릴까요?uri-ga do-wa-deu-ril-kka-yo?Shall we help her?
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 백인, 여자, CC BY-SA 4.0.
