두

• IPA^(key): /tu/

두 (du)

1. two

• “두” in Jeju's culture and language, Digital museum.

First attested in the Yongbi eocheon'ga (龍飛御天歌 / 용비어천가), 1447, as Middle Korean 두〯 (Yale: twǔ).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [tu(ː)]

  • (file)

• Phonetic hangul: [두(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

두 • (du)

1. two (as a determiner before a noun or classifier)

   두 여자가 상자들을 나르고 있다.

   Du yeoja-ga sangja-deur-eul nareugo itda.

   Two women are carrying boxes.

   오늘, 난 그 가게에 두 번 다녀왔어.

   Oneul, nan geu gage-e du beon danyeowasseo.

   I have been to the shop twice today.

In modern Korean, numbers are usually written in Arabic numerals.

The Korean language has two sets of numerals: a native set of numerals inherited from Old Korean, and a Sino-Korean set which was borrowed from Middle Chinese in the first millennium C.E.

Native classifiers take native numerals.

• 개 한 마리 (gae han mari, “one dog”, native numeral)
• 나무 두 그루 (namu du geuru, “two trees”, native numeral)

Some Sino-Korean classifiers take native numerals, others take Sino-Korean numerals, while yet others take both.

• 종이 두 장(張) (jong'i du jang, “two sheets of paper”, native numeral)
• 이 분(分) (i bun, “two minutes”, Sino-Korean numeral)
• 서른/삼십 명(名) (seoreun/samsip myeong, “thirty people”, both sets possible)

Recently loaned classifiers generally take Sino-Korean numerals.

• 일 킬로미터 (il killomiteo, “one kilometer”, Sino-Korean numeral)

For many terms, a native numeral has a quantifying sense, whereas a Sino-Korean numeral has a sense of labeling.

• 세 반(班) (se ban, “three school classes”, native numeral)
• 삼 반(班) (sam ban, “Class Number Three”, Sino-Korean numeral)

When used in isolation, native numerals refer to objects of that number and are used in counting and quantifying, whereas Sino-Korean numerals refer to the numbers in a more mathematical sense.

• 하나만 더 주세요 (hana-man deo juse-yo, “Could you give me just one more, please”, native numeral)
• 일 더하기 일은? (il deohagi ir-eun?, “What's one plus one?”, Sino-Korean numeral)

While older stages of Korean had native numerals up to the thousands, native numerals currently exist only up to ninety-nine, and Sino-Korean is used for all higher numbers. There is also a tendency—particularly among younger speakers—to uniformly use Sino-Korean numerals for the higher tens as well, so that native numerals such as 일흔 (ilheun, “seventy”) or 아흔 (aheun, “ninety”) are becoming less common.

Sino-Korean word from 頭.

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [tu]

  • (file)

• Phonetic hangul: [두]

두 • (du) (hanja 頭)

1. (in certain expressions) head

   Synonym: 머리 (meori)

   아이고 두야! (uttered during a headache) ― Aigo du-ya! (literally, “Oh, my head!”)

두 • (du) (hanja 頭)

1. Counter for animals, usually cattle: "head"

   Synonym: 마리 (mari)

• See the hanja entry at 頭 for Sino-Korean compounds of 두 (頭, du).