불가사리

Korean

Etymology

From Literary Chinese 不可殺, literally means "it cannot be killed". According to folk etymology, another way to read this word is 火可殺이 (불가살이, bul gasal-i), which means "it can be killed with fire".

The use of "불가사리" for "starfish" may refer to the sea creature's ability to regrow its limbs or body after being cut to pieces.

Pronunciation

  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [puɭɡa̠sʰa̠ɾi]
  • Phonetic hangul: [불가사리]
Romanizations
Revised Romanization?bulgasari
Revised Romanization (translit.)?bulgasali
McCune–Reischauer?pulgasari
Yale Romanization?pul.kasali

Noun

불가사리 • (bulgasari) (hanja 不可殺—)

  1. legendary quadrupedal monster that eats iron
  2. starfish

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → English: bulgasari, pulgasari
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