아이

• 애 (ae) — contraction
• 아해(兒孩) (ahae) — dated

First attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean 아ᄒᆡ〮 (Yale: àhóy), from earlier Old Korean 阿孩 (*ahoy). While the word is native, the second syllable was identified already in the 8th-century hyangga poem Anmin-ga with Middle Chinese 孩 (ɦʌi, “child”). Historically, the word was often mistakenly perceived as Sino-Korean, with the ateji spelling 兒孩. (The Middle Korean reading of 兒 was ᅀᆞ (zò).)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [a̠i]

  • (file)

• Phonetic hangul: [아이]

• South Gyeongsang (Busan) pitch accent: 아이의 / 아이에 / 아이까지

  Syllables in red take high pitch. This word always takes high pitch only on the first syllable, and lowers the pitch of subsequent suffixes.

아이 • (ai)

1. child, kid

   Synonym: (polite) 어린이 (eorini)

   아이가 무엇을 가지고 놉니까? ― Aiga mueoseul gajigo nomnikka? ― What is a kid playing with?

   • 2007, Han Kang, 채식주의자 [chaesikjuuija, The Vegetarian], 22nd edition, Paju, Republic of Korea: Changbi, published 2016, →ISBN, page 155:

     마침내 새벽이 되어 아이의 이마를 만져보았을 때 그녀는 손바닥에 느껴지는 서늘함에 안도했고, 안방을 나가 거실 베란다로 드는 푸르스름한 박명을 물끄러미 바라보았다.

     Machimnae saebyeog-i doeeo ai-ui ima-reul manjeo-boasseul ttae geunyeo-neun sonbadag-e neukkyeojineun seoneulham-e andohaetgo, anbang-eul naga geosil beranda-ro deuneun pureuseureumhan bangmyeong-eul mulkkeureomi baraboatda.

     When it was finally dawn and she touched the child's forehead, she was relieved at the coolness she felt on her palm. She left the inside room and stared vacantly at the bluish twilight that penetrated the living room veranda.

2. (endearing) Used to refer to objects, typically in casual but polite settings such as when persuading a customer to buy a product.
3. Less colloquial form of 애 (ae, “guy; person”).

(guy; person):

• As 애 (ae, “guy; person”) is extremely colloquial, 아이 (ai) is sometimes used to replace it in less colloquial writing, especially in the pronominal forms 걔 (gyae), 얘 (yae), 쟤 (jae). This is less common in speech.
• Such a replacement is even rarer when 애 (ae) is being used non-pronominally, because 아이 (ai) is perceived as being neither sufficiently colloquial as 애 (ae) nor sufficiently non-colloquial as e.g. 사람 (saram). It is very normal, if highly colloquial, to refer to American people in general as 미국 애들 (miguk ae-deul), but 미국 아이들 (miguk ai-deul) will usually refer specifically to American children.