말똥구리

Korean
왕쇠똥구리 (Scarabaeus sacer).

Etymology

First attested in the Myobeopyeonhwagyeong eonhae (妙法蓮華經諺解 / 묘법연화경언해), 1463, as Middle Korean ᄆᆞᆯᄯᆞᆼ구우리 (molstongkwuwuli).

Possibly a compound of 말똥 (malttong, “horse faeces”) (itself from 말 (mal, “horse”) and 똥 (ttong, “faeces”)) and the verb 구르— (gureu-) / 굴— (gul-, “to roll”), with a nominalisation agent suffix —이 (i, “the thing which ...”), i.e. literally, "a horse faeces roller".

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key)[ma̠ɭt͈o̞ŋɡuɾi]
  • Phonetic Hangul[말똥구리]
Revised Romanization? malttongguri
Revised Romanization (translit.)? malttongguli
McCune–Reischauer? malttongguri
Yale Romanization? malttongkwuli

Noun

말똥구리 • (malttongguri)

  1. dung beetle

Synonyms
  • 쇠똥구리 (soettongguri) / 소똥구리 (sottongguri, “literally, a 'cow faeces roller'”)
  • 쇠똥벌레 (soettongbeolle)
  • 강랑 (蜣蜋, gangnang)
  • 길강 (蛣蜣, gilgang)
  • 퇴환 (推丸, toehwan)
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