位

A semantic compound:

人 (사람 인) — person.

立 (설 립) — to stand.

Together they depict “the place where a person stands,” hence “position” or “seat.”

Semantic range:

- seat, place, position (자리, 위치, 좌석);

- official rank, status, dignity;

- a polite classifier for people (modern Chinese: 一位先生, “a gentleman”);

- tablet, memorial (esp. in ancestral rites);

- figuratively: numerical place value, digital bit.

位置 (위치) — location, position

地位 (지위) — social rank, standing

方位 (방위) — direction, orientation

職位 (직위) — office, post

司祭位 (사제위) — priesthood office

In Confucian ritual culture, 位 carries the sense of assigned place within the cosmic and social hierarchy. To know one’s 位 (“place”) and act accordingly was considered a core virtue in maintaining li (禮, propriety).

In ancestral rites, 位 refers to the spiritual “seat” (위패, spirit tablet) of the deceased, embodying presence and respect.

In Korean Catholic usage, 位 is employed to count saints and martyrs (e.g., “한국 103位 성인” — the 103 Korean Saints). Here 位 functions as a respectful unit of enumeration for holy persons, emphasizing their honored standing before God.

In church liturgy and memorial contexts, 位 may appear in inscriptions for the departed faithful, paralleling its ancestral rite use but reoriented toward Christian remembrance and intercession.