• to be humble, modest;
  • to yield;

Etymology

It is a phono-semantic compound, formed from:

辶 (chwak/착, “to walk slowly, to go”) as the semantic element;

孫 (son, ‘grandchild’) as the phonetic element.

Usage in Korean

In modern Korean, mostly seen in 겸손 (謙遜), one of the most common words for “humility.”

Retains a formal/literary flavor outside of 겸손.

Common compounds:

겸손 (謙遜) – modesty, humility;

사손 (辭遜) – polite refusal, decline;

양손 (讓遜) – concession, yielding;

손양 (遜讓) – yielding, abdication (rare, more literary).

겸손할
gyeomsonhal
son
Kangxi radical:162, + 10
Strokes:14
Unicode:U+905C
Cangjie input:
  • 卜弓木火 (YNDF)
Composition:
  • ⿺ 辶 孫

Characters next to each other in the list

References