너

Etymology 1
From. Presumably existed in Old Korean, but cannot be ascertained because Old Korean pronouns were written with Chinese logograms that obscure the pronunciation.

It has been suggested since the 1950s that the basic Korean pronouns, , and (> modern ) were all formed from the same etymon via ablaut, which appears to have once been an extremely productive process in Korean, at some very ancient stage. Given the very limited data on prehistoric Korean, this hypothesis cannot be proven for sure either way.

Possibly cognate with 🇨🇬; if so, generally assumed to be a Koreanic loan into Japanese, given the paucity of Ryukyuan cognates.

Pronoun

 * 1)  second-person singular informal pronoun; you

Usage notes
A characteristic of colloquial Korean is that the use of personal pronouns such as or  implies that the person being referred to by the pronoun is of equal or lower social rank compared to the speaker. When speaking to a social superior, speakers use either a title or a word referring to the relationship between the speaker and the addressee. Thus the pronoun is permissible for one's younger brother, but one's older brother is referred to as  or, both meaning "older brother". Similarly, a freshman addresses a senior as but the senior may freely address the freshman as.

Furthermore, even when speaking to an equal or inferior, is impermissible in polite or formal speech levels. In such contexts, use, a title, or a personal name. or is common in romantic contexts.

The use of in socially impermissible contexts, such as when addressing a superior, should be understood as the speaker showing contempt for the addressee.

Related terms

 * 네
 * , — second-person plural informal pronoun

Etymology 2
Compare.

Numeral

 * 1)  four

Usage notes
This form is found primarily with certain traditional Korean units which are not now widely used.

Pronoun

 * 1) you