생멸

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 生滅しょうめつ, from 生せい (“emergence”) + 滅めつ (“destruction”).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰɛŋmjʌ̹ɭ] ~ [sʰe̞ŋmjʌ̹ɭ]
• Phonetic hangul: [생멸/셍멸]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	saengmyeol
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	saengmyeol
McCune–Reischauer?	saengmyŏl
Yale Romanization?	sayngmyel

Noun

생멸 • (saengmyeol) (hanja 生滅しょうめつ)

1. (Buddhism or literary) birth and death; appearance and disappearance; production and annihilation

   삼라만상은 마음의 허깨비라 생멸만을 일삼고 불변치 못 하니라.

   samnamansang-eun ma'eum-ui heokkaebira saengmyeol-man-eul ilsamgo bulbyeonchi mot hanira.

   As all created things are illusions of the mind, they merely appear and are destroyed; they cannot remain constant.

   • 2001, 홍사만, “어휘 생태계의 역학적 현상”, in 새국어생활‎^[1], volume 11, number 4, National Institute of the Korean Language, pages 110—119:

     동음 경쟁이나 유의 경쟁에서 강자가 살아 남고, 약자가 도태되어 퇴화하는 것은 자연의 철리이다. 어휘들의 생멸은 이처럼 숙명적인 충돌과 경쟁의 결과 얻어지는 산물이라고 할 수 있다.

     Dong'eum gyeongjaeng-ina yuui gyeongjaeng-eseo gangja-ga sara namgo, yakja-ga dotaedoeeo toehwahaneun geos-eun jayeon-ui cheolli-ida. Eohwi-deur-ui saengmyeor-eun icheoreom sungmyeongjeog-in chungdol-gwa gyeongjaeng-ui gyeolgwa eodeojineun sanmur-i-rago hal su itda.

     It is a profound principle of nature that the strong survive, and the weak are displaced and die away, in competitions [between words in a language] of homophony or synonymy. The appearance and disappearance of words may be said to be the outcome of such inescapable conflicts and competition.

Derived terms

• 생멸(生滅しょうめつ)하다 (saengmyeolhada, “to be born and die; to appear and disappear”)
• 생멸심(生滅しょうめつ心しん) (saengmyeolsim, “variable, shifting mind of unenlightened beings (Buddhism)”)