구멍

From pre-Middle Korean *kwùmùk, the modern form preserving the velar nature of the final consonant. First appeared in the seventeenth century as a distinctively Modern Korean form, displacing the Middle Korean form 구무 (Yale: kwùmwù), which still survives in some dialects.

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kumʌ̹ŋ]
• Phonetic hangul: [구멍]

South Gyeongsang (Busan) pitch accent: 구멍의 / 구멍에 / 구멍까지

Syllables in red take high pitch. This word always takes high pitch only on the second syllable, except before consonant-initial multisyllabic suffixes, when it takes full low pitch.

구멍 • (gumeong)

1. hole, aperture, opening

   벽에 구멍을 뚫다 ― byeoge gumeong'eul ttulta ― to drill a hole in a wall

   바지에 구멍이 났다.

   bajie gumeong'i natda.

   [I’ve] got a hole in my trousers.

   (literally, “A hole appeared in my trousers.”)

2. (figurative) defect, loophole, blind point
3. (figurative) loss, deficit

• 오존 구멍 (ojon gumeong, “ozone hole”)
• 검은 구멍 (geomeun gumeong, “black hole”)
• 구멍 가게 (gumeong gage, “small store”)

• 구덩이 (gudeong'i, “pit, cavity, depression”)
• 구렁 (gureong, “hollow, cavity, pit”)
• 골 (gol, “cave, hollow”)