seoul
/soʊl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.93 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
The capital city of South Korea, also the historical capital of Korea from 1394 until the country was divided in 1945.
name
Example Sentences
- "The Joint Commission provided for in the Moscow agreement began its work at Seoul, the ancient capital of Korea, on March 20, 1946. This Commission, which was, of course, the key element in the plan agreed upon at Moscow, was deadlocked almost from the start."
- "With almost 10 million people living in 25 different districts and the Han River through the middle, Seoul offers more than even most locals who spend a considerable amount of time have time to see for themselves."
- "Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul, reciprocating Yoon’s visit to Tokyo in March. In doing so, the two leaders marked the revival of their “shuttle diplomacy” to hold negotiations in each other’s countries and work through a series of thorny issues that have complicated their ties."
- "To that end, Seoul and Taipei signed a reciprocal driver’s license agreement in February, with immediate effect, to make driving easier for visitors on each side, he said."
- "After years of friction, Seoul and Tokyo are trying to collaborate more closely with each other and Washington to counter the looming geopolitical threats of China’s economic and military rise and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. The Biden administration has welcomed their efforts."
Etymology
Borrowed from Korean 서울 (Seoul, literally “capital city”), originally from Claude-Charles Dallet's French-based romanization of Korean, reinforced by the 1959 South Korean Ministry of Education romanization of Korean, which transcribed the Korean vowel ㅓ (/ʌ/) with the digraph "eo" and which was official until 1984. Note that English Seoul predates the Revised Romanization romanization of Seoul. The two romanization systems simply produce identical forms.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /soʊl/
- British English: /səʊl/
Inflected Forms
Sior (alternative, obsolete)
Derived Forms
Phrases
capital city of North Korea
Frequently Paired Words
Pyongyang
capital city of North Korea