# 저

| 저 | U+C800, &#51200; HANGUL SYLLABLE JEO |
| Composition: | ㅈ + ㅓ |
| ← 쟿 [U+C7FF] | Hangul Syllables | 적 → [U+C801] |
저적젂젃전젅젆 젇절젉젊젋젌젍 젎젏점접젒젓젔 정젖젗젘젙젚젛 :
| 쟤 ← | → 제 |

## Jeju
### Etymology

Cognate with Korean 저 (jeo).

### Pronunciation

* (Morphophonemic) IPA: ⫽t͡ɕə⫽
* (Jeju City) IPA: [t͡ɕə]
* Phonetic hangul: [저]

### Pronoun

저 (jeo)
* (determiner) that

#### See also

* 그 (geu, “that”)
* 이 (i, “this”)

## Korean
### Etymology 1

First attested in the Yongbi eocheon'ga (龍飛御天歌 / 용비어천가), 1447, as Middle Korean 뎌〮 (Yale: tyé), from Old Korean 彼 (*TYE).

#### Pronunciation

* (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA: [t͡ɕʌ̹]
** Audio:(file)
* Phonetic hangul: [저]

#### Determiner

저 • (jeo)
* that (distal determiner)
    Synonym: 조 (jo, “that”, diminutive)
    Coordinate terms: (proximal) 이 (i, “this”), (mesial) 그 (geu, “that”)
    저기 저 나무를 봐 봐. ― Jeogi jeo namu-reul bwa bwa. ― Take a look at that tree over there.

#### Pronoun

저 • (jeo)
* (literary) that, that thing
    Synonym: 저것 (jeogeot, “that thing”)
    이도 저도 아니다 (common phrase) ― i-do jeo-do anida ― to be neither this or that

##### Derived terms

* 저같이 (jeogachi)
* 저것 (jeogeot)
* 저곳 (jeogot)
* 저까지로 (jeokkajiro)
* 저네 (jeone)
* 저놈 (jeonom)
* 저들 (jeodeul, “they/them (over there)”)
* 저따위 (jeottawi)
* 저만 (jeoman)
* 저만큼 (jeomankeum)
* 저만하다 (jeomanhada)
* 저맘때 (jeomamttae)
* 저번 (jeobeon)
* 저분 (jeobun)
* 저손 (jeoson)
* 저승 (jeoseung)
* 저이 (jeoi)
* 저자 (jeoja)
* 저제 (jeoje)
* 저쪽 (jeojjok)
* 저쯤 (jeojjeum)
* 저토록 (jeotorok)
* 저편 (jeopyeon)

##### Related terms

* 쟤 (jae)
* 저기 (jeogi)
* 접때 (jeopttae)
* 저리 (jeori)
* 저렇다 (jeoreota), 저러하다 (jeoreohada)

#### See also

$^1$ Not common.

### Etymology 2

First attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean 저 (Yale: cè), originally a reflexive pronoun ("my/your/it/him/herself").

#### Pronunciation

* (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA: [t͡ɕʌ̹]
** Audio:(file)
* Phonetic hangul: [저]

#### Pronoun

저 • (jeo)
* (humble) I, me; first-person singular polite pronoun
    Synonym: (non-humble) 나 (na, “I, me”)
    어제, 저는 기차를 탔습니다. ― Eoje, jeo-neun gicha-reul tatseumnida. ― Yesterday, I took a train.
* (higher register) oneself; third-person plain reflexive pronoun
    Synonym: (neutral) 자기(自己) (jagi)
    그는 저 하고 싶은 것만 한다. ― Geu-neun jeo hago sipeun geon-man handa. ― He only does things that he himself wants [to do].

##### Alternative forms

* 제 (je) — allomorph before 가 (-ga, nominative case marker)

##### Derived terms

* 저마다 (jeomada)
* 저절로 (jeojeollo)
* 저희 (jeohui, “we; us”)

##### Related terms

* 제 (je, “my; one's”)

### Etymology 3

First attested in the Jīlín lèishì (鷄林類事 / 계림유사), 1103, as Late Old Korean 折. In the hangul script, first attested in the Gugeupbang eonhae (救急方諺解 / 구급방언해), 1466, as Middle Korean 져〮 (Yale: cyé).
Once widely perceived as Sino-Korean, the spelling 箸 is in fact unetymological; and the word is of Native Korean origin as far as history is concerned.
Until the late 20th century—and as early as 1897 in James Scarth Gale's A Korean-English dictionary—dictionaries had mistakenly assigned the Chinese character 箸 for the word. The spelling was found often in literature as well, and is still occasionally presented as a folk etymology. However, this usage comes from a conflation with hanja 箸 (jeo, “chopsticks”), which now happens to be a perfect—albeit etymologically unrelated—semantic and phonetic match, erroneously assuming a Chinese provenance.
This fact can be gleaned from three related, but separate, observations:
    1) It is difficult to see how the reconstructed Old Korean form *<cyel> based on the Jīlín lèishì transcription 折 (MC tsyet) could have derived from Middle Chinese 箸 (ɖɨʌ$^H$), with different consonantism and an evident final coda.
    2) Further supporting this, the dialectal equivalent 절 (jeol, “chopsticks”) preserves and confirms much of the original shape suggested by Jīlín lèishì, making its ultimate derivation from Middle Chinese 箸 (ɖɨʌ$^H$) even more unlikely.
    3) The earliest written records show that the two were clearly distinguished. Both were unambiguously spelled differently in Middle Korean: the character was read as expected as 뎌〯 (tyě), whereas the word itself was 져〮 (cyé). Moreover, there are no known processes that could have derived the latter from the former before this point in the language. It was only during the Early Modern era when palatalization and loss of tone occurred that speakers began conflating the two.
In conclusion, 저 (jeo) and 箸 (jeo) are two different words and had historically been independent from each other. 저 (jeo) is not derived from any known Chinese source and is very likely a descendant of the native Old Korean word for "chopsticks" recorded in Jīlín lèishì. It has only relatively recently become wrongly associated with 箸 (jeo) in the standard dialect, where the two have coincidentally merged in sound.
True etymological use, as borrowed from Chinese, of 箸 (jeo) in Korean is limited to a number of rare or archaic Sino-Korean compound words such as 시저(匙箸) (sijeo) or 비저(匕箸) (bijeo).

#### Pronunciation

* (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA: [t͡ɕʌ̹]
** Audio:(file)
* Phonetic hangul: [저]

#### Noun

저 • (jeo) (usually no hanja; sometimes 箸)
* (dated or in compounds) chopstick(s)
    Synonym: 젓가락 (jeotgarak)
    저를 쥐다/들다 ― jeo-reul jwida/deulda ― to hold chopsticks

##### Alternative forms

* 절 (jeol) — Gangwon, Chungcheong, Gyeongsang

##### Derived terms

* 나무저 (namujeo)
* 부저 (bujeo)
* 상아저 (sang'ajeo)
* 소독저 (sodokjeo)
* 수저 (sujeo)
* 위생저 (wisaengjeo)
* 저통 (jeotong)
* 젓가락 (jeotgarak)
* 죽저 (jukjeo)

### Etymology 4
#### Pronunciation

* (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA: [t͡ɕɘ(ː)]
** Audio:(file)
* Phonetic hangul: [저(ː)]
** Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

#### Interjection

저 • (jeo)
* um..., uh... (conveys hesitation or a pause in speech)

### Etymology 5

Sino-Korean word from 著.

#### Pronunciation

* (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA: [t͡ɕɘ(ː)]
** Audio:(file)
* Phonetic hangul: [저(ː)]
** Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

#### Noun

저 • (jeo) (hanja 著)
* written by... (written after the author's name)
    Synonym: 저술(著述) (jeosul)
    이상 저 ― I Sang jeo ― [written] by Yi Sang

##### Derived terms

* See the hanja entry at 著 for Sino-Korean compounds of 저 (著, jeo).

### Etymology 6

Sino-Korean word from 底.

#### Pronunciation

* (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA: [t͡ɕɘ(ː)]
** Audio:(file)
* Phonetic hangul: [저(ː)]
** Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

#### Noun

저 • (jeo) (hanja 底)
* (superseded) Synonym of 밑 (mit, “(mathematics) base of a logarithm”)

##### Derived terms

* See the hanja entry at 底 for Sino-Korean compounds of 저 (底, jeo).

### Etymology 7

First attested in the Seokbo sangjeol (釋譜詳節 / 석보상절), 1447, as Middle Korean 뎧 (Yale: tyèh). Nativisation of the Sino-Korean term 적 (笛, jeok), of which this is a doublet. Displaced by Korean 피리 (piri), a borrowing from Early Mandarin.

#### Pronunciation

* (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA: [t͡ɕʌ̹]
** Audio:(file)
* Phonetic hangul: [저]

#### Noun

저 • (jeo)
* (music, archaic) transverse flute

##### Derived terms

* 젓대 (jeotdae)

### Etymology 8

Sino-Korean word from 低.

#### Pronunciation

* (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA: [t͡ɕɘ(ː)]
** Audio:(file)
* Phonetic hangul: [저(ː)]
** Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

#### Prefix

저— • (jeo-) (hanja 低)
* low
    Antonym: 고(高) (go-, “high”)
    ‎저(低) (jeo-) + ‎소득(所得) (sodeuk, “income”) → ‎저소득(低所得) (jeosodeuk, “low-income”)

##### Derived terms

* See the hanja entry at 低 for Sino-Korean compounds of 저 (低, jeo).

### Etymology 9

Korean reading of various Chinese characters.

#### Syllable

저 • (jeo)
* 著:
    (MC reading: 著 (MC drjo|trjoX|trjoH|trjak|drjak))
* 貯:
    (MC reading: 貯 (MC trjoX))
* 低:
    (MC reading: 低 (MC tej))
* 底:
    (MC reading: 底 (MC tejX))
* 抵:
    (MC reading: 抵 (MC tejX))
* 沮:
    (MC reading: 沮 (MC tshjo|tsjo|tsrjo|dzjoX|tsjoH))
* 邸:
    (MC reading: 邸 (MC tejX))
* 猪:
    (MC reading: 猪 (MC trjo))
* 姐:
    (MC reading: 姐 (MC tsjaeX))
* 箸:
    (MC reading: 箸 (MC trjoH|drjoH))

### References

* ↑ 조항범 (Cho Hang-bum) (2019) “조항범 교수의 어원 이야기: 수저 [johangbeom gyosuui eowon iyagi: sujeo]”, in Munhwa ilbo‎