부없남

Bu-Eobs-Nam

This article is in English.

Origin from

Korean language.

How to read

Boo-Eob-Nam. The romanization of this abbreviation are Bu-Eobs-Nam, but to read the abbreviation, you don't need to read the "s" in the end of 없 (Eobs), as the next character begin with "n".

Abbreviated from

부러울 게 없는 남자

Bu(Reo-Ul) - Ge - Eobs(Neun) - Nam(Ja).

부(러울) - 게 - 없(는) - 남(자).

Literal translation to English

Bu-Eobs-Nam (부없남) - Amazing Saturday 191.

The phrase could be translated as "A Man with Nothing to Envy" in Korean language. Referring to how dareumi translated it.

In my understanding,

  • 부러울 (Bu-Reo-Ul), which means "envy" could be tracked into other similar form, which is 부러 (Bu-Reo, means broken), 부러워 (Bu-Reo-Weo, means(I) envy you, less formal), or 부러워요 (Bu-Reo-Weo-Yo, means (I) envy you, but more formal).
  • Next, we have 게 (Ge). Based on Google Translate, this character can be taken as a preposition, so it could be translated as "... to ...", or "... for ...". Which usually can be seen in other type of word, such as a lyric from IVE - Love Dive, "넌 내게로 난 네게로 (Neon nae-ge-ro, Nan ne-ge-ro", which means "You into me, me into you", which explain more of how 게 (ge) is used in sentences.
  • Third, we have 없는 (Eobs-Neun), which means "do not have". Usually can be seen in form of 없는데요 (Eobs-Neun-De, less formal), or 없는데요 (Eobs-Neun-De-Yo, more formal), which both have similar meaning, just different nuance.
  • Last, we have 남자 (Nam-Ja), which is one of many word form of "man" in Korean language. Basic character of this word is 남 (Nam), with the antonym is 여자 (Yeo-Ja), which means "woman".
Hence, in the end, if all of this word combined into one phrase, we could make a sentence 부러울 게 없는 남자 (Bu-Reo-Ul Ge Eobs-Neun Nam-Ja) meaning "A Man with Nothing to Envy". Which then abbreviated into 부없남 (Bu-Eobs-Nam). This phrase could probably be interpreted as a man who has no charm to attract others, so people didn't envy him, cause he had nothing. A similar nuance of this phrase is probably 매력 없는 남자 (Mae-Ryeok Eobs-Neun Nam-Ja), which means "unattractive man". Latter phrase can be heard generally in Kpop song lyrics.

Where do I know this term from?

A question in Amazing Saturday Ep. 191.