선무당

Univerbation of 선 (seon, “inexperienced, awkward”) +‎ 무당 (mudang, “shaman”).

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

선무당 • (seonmudang)

1. (shamanism) an inexperienced novice priest or shaman

   Synonym: 애동제자 (aedongjeja)

   Antonym: 큰무당 (keunmudang, “great priest, accomplished priest”)

   Hypernyms: 무속인(巫俗人) (musogin), 무당(巫堂) (mudang); see also Thesaurus:무속인

2. (figurative) a novice in any field
3. (figurative) someone who actually knows little or is incompetent, but believes themselves to be knowledgeable or competent

(proverbs)

• 선무당이 사람 잡는다 (seonmudang'i saram jamneunda, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, literally “the novice shaman kills the person [that they were trying to heal]”)
• 선무당이 사람 속인다 (seonmudang'i saram soginda, “(of an incompetent person) to successfully trick someone into believing something”, literally “the novice shaman fools a person”)
• 선무당이 장구 탓한다 (seonmudang'i janggu tathanda, “(of a novice) to blame circumstances rather than one's own lack of practice”, literally “the novice shaman blames the drums”)