驗

A phono-semantic compound:

馬 (“horse”) - provides the semantic element. (Horses were often tested or inspected for quality in antiquity.)

僉 (cheom/ch’ŏm, “all together, many”) - provides the phonetic element.

Common compounds in Korean:

實驗 (실험) - experiment;

試驗 (시험) - test, examination;

驗證 (검증) - verification;

驗察 (험찰) - inspection;

In Chinese and Japanese, similarly used for tests, verification, and validation.

Pronunciation Notes:

According to the Guangyun (廣韻), the fanqie spelling is 魚窆切, indicating a Middle Chinese initial 疑母 (/ŋ-/).

Therefore, the expected Korean Sino-reading should start with a vowel (initial ㅇ). However, the actual Korean reading is 험 (with ㅎ), which does not correspond to the Middle Chinese phonology given in Guangyun.

This shows a divergence between historical phonetic expectation and the actual Korean Sino-Korean reading.