밀

First attested in the Gugeupbang eonhae (救急方諺解 / 구급방언해), 1466, as Middle Korean 밇 (Yale: milh).

Potentially an ancient borrowing from Old Chinese 麥 (OC *mrɯːɡ, “barley; wheat”),^[1] given that Middle Korean final /-h/ implies Old Korean */-k/ and since wheat is not native to the area. In any case, apparently a Northeast Asian area word: besides Chinese, see also Proto-Japonic *monki (“wheat”) (whence Japanese 麦 (mugi)), Manchu ᠮᡝᡵᡝ (mere, “buckwheat”).^[1]

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [miɭ]
• Phonetic hangul: [밀]

밀 • (mil)

1. wheat

Sino-Korean word from 蜜 (“honey”). First attested in the Hunminjeong'eum haerye (訓民正音解例 / 훈민정음해례), 1446, as Middle Korean 밀〯 (Yale: mǐl).

See the hanja entry at 蜜 for the etymology concerning the word when used as part of a compound.

(in isolation)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [mi(ː)ɭ]
• Phonetic hangul: [밀(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

(in compounds)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [miɭ]
• Phonetic hangul: [밀]

밀 • (mil) (hanja 蜜)

1. beeswax

   Synonym: 밀랍(蜜蠟) (millap)

2. (only used in compounds) honey

   Synonym: 꿀 (kkul)

• See the hanja entry at 蜜 for Sino-Korean compounds of 밀 (蜜, mil).

• 봉 (蜂, bong, “bee”)

Korean reading of various Chinese characters.

밀 (mil)

• Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea (대한민국 대법원, Daehanmin'guk Daebeobwon) (2018). Table of hanja for personal names (인명용 한자표 / 人名用漢字表, Inmyeong-yong hanja-pyo), page 17. [1]
• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]