성매매

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 性賣買 (“prostitution”)

Pronunciation
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [ˈsʰɘ(ː)ŋmɛmɛ] ~ [ˈsʰɘ(ː)ŋme̞me̞]
  • Phonetic hangul: [성(ː)매매/성(ː)메메]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?seongmaemae
Revised Romanization (translit.)?seongmaemae
McCune–Reischauer?sŏngmaemae
Yale Romanization?sēngmaymay

Noun

성매매 • (seongmaemae) (hanja 性賣買)

  1. prostitution

Usage notes

Similar to the U.S., where the terms 'prostitution' and 'sex trafficking' are used as if they were interchangeable, the Korean term 'seongmaemae' is, more often than not, used to describe exploitative situations in the sex industry, rather than consensual adult sex work.

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