단골

Of native Korean origin.

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ta̠nɡo̞ɭ]
• Phonetic hangul: [단골]

단골 • (dan'gol)

1. (shamanism, Seoul, uncommon) the clientele of a shaman, who regularly consult the shaman for ritual purposes

   Synonym: 제가집 (jegajip)

2. (shamanism) a hereditary village priest from southern Korea who officiates rituals at a fixed shrine

   Synonym: (academic) 세습무(世襲巫) (seseummu)

   Hypernyms: 무속인(巫俗人) (musogin), 무당(巫堂) (mudang); see also Thesaurus:무속인

3. (transferred sense) A regular, either a regular customer from a business's perspective or a regularly visited business from a customer's perspective

   단골손님 ― dan'golsonnim ― regular clientele

   단골집 ― dan'goljip ― regularly visited shop

The word is nowadays rarely used in its shamanic meaning because hereditary village priests have mostly been replaced by trance-possession shamans, while Seoul practitioners prefer 제가집 (jegajip). Most Koreans will know the word by the meaning of "regular".