🇺🇸 Translation
1st place alien👽
📙 Lesson point
How to say “1st place alien” in Korean
Hello, everyone! We’re going to learn two things today. First, we’ll learn about the Korean word ‘등,’ which is a unit that is used to count the rankings of something. Next, we’ll learn about the word ‘외계인.’ We’ll take a look at the traditional Chinese characters that form this word and the meaning of it thoroughly.
After reading today’s post, not only will you be able to learn how to say “1st place alien” in Korean, but you’ll also understand how this Korean expression is grammatically formed. Moreover, we’ll look into the actual expression that Winter of AESPA used for her Instagram post. Let’s begin!
What does ‘등’ mean?
‘등’ is a Korean unit that is used to count the rankings of something. It is usually used in forms of ‘(Number)등.’ As it is used for counting the rankings of something, the Sino-Korean number system (일, 이, 삼…) is used instead of the native-Korean number system (하나, 둘, 셋…).
몇 등? (what ranking?)
1등 (일 등): 1st place
2등 (이 등): 2nd place
3등 (삼 등): 3rd place
4등 (사 등): 4th place
5등 (오 등): 5th place
6등 (육 등): 6th place
7등 (칠 등): 7th place
8등 (팔 등): 8th place
9등 (구 등): 9th place
10등 (십 등): 10th place
Korean expression ‘(Number)등 하다’
The unit ‘등’ is usually used in the expression ‘(Number)등 하다.’ It means “to get (Number)st place.” Let’s look at some examples to see how this expression is used.
일 등 : 1st place
오늘 수영 대회에서 1등 했어요.
= I got 1st place in the swimming competition today
이 등 : 2nd place
오천 달러 : 5000 dollars
2등 상금은 5000달러입니다.
= The prize money for the 2nd place is 5000 dollars.
삼 등 : 3rd place
올림픽에서 3등 선수는 동메달을 받아요.
= 3rd place athletes get bronze medals in the Olympics
일 등 : 1st place
십 등 : 10th place
사백 점 : 400 points
1등과 10등의 점수 차이는 400점이었어요.
= The score difference between the 1st place and the 10th place was 400 points.
What does ‘외계인’ mean?
Now, let’s learn about the Korean word ‘외계인.’ In Korea, there are a lot of native Korean words, but there are also a lot of Sino-Korean words that root from traditional Chinese characters. We call these words ‘Hanja’ words.
Chinese characters are often unable to compose words alone, and two or more Chinese characters are combined to form Chinese characters. ‘외계인’ is also a Hanja word.
외 外 - Chinese character pertaining to the meaning ‘outside, outer’
계 界 - Chinese character pertaining to the meaning ‘realm, boundaries’
인 人- Chinese character pertaining to the meaning ‘human, person’
Therefore, ‘외계,’ means “Outer-space, extraterrestrial,” and ‘외계인’ means “Human-like creatures exist in the outer-space” or “alien.”
외계 (外界): Outer-space, extraterrestrial
외계인 (外界人): Extraterrestrial intellectual humanlike species, Alien
Winter says: “1등 외계인👽”
To conclude, let’s look a the post Winter of AESPA posted on Instagram. Winter is saying “first place alien.” She probably dressed up like an alien, so she seems to be saying that she is the first place alien!