맨정신
maen-jeong-sin · literally “Bare mind”
♪ From the song 맨정신 (“Sober”) by BIGBANG, 2015
Situation: You see 맨정신, 맨 앞 and 맨날 in the same chat and ask AI what 맨 means.
✕ What AI tells you
Gives one meaning for all three, or translates 맨정신 as 'man's mind'.
Why it fails: These are different 맨s. The prefix 맨- means 'bare, with nothing added': 맨정신 is a sober mind, with no alcohol. 맨 앞 uses a separate word meaning 'the very' (the very front), and 맨날 is spoken Korean for 'every day, always'. BIGBANG's 2015 song 맨정신 (English title 'Sober') uses the prefix form.
✓ How it's used
맨 attached to a noun (맨발, 맨손) = bare. 맨 before a position (맨 앞, 맨 위) = the very. 맨날 = always.
맨정신으로는 못 하겠어요.
maen-jeong-si-neu-ro-neun mot ha-ge-sseo-yo
'I can't do it sober' — e.g. karaoke
맨발 / 맨손 / 맨밥
maen-bal / maen-son / maen-bap
Bare feet / bare hands / plain rice with nothing on it
맨 앞에 앉을게요.
maen a-pe an-jeul-ge-yo
'I'll sit at the very front' — a different 맨
Cultural nuance, in depth
맨얼굴 (a face without makeup) is common in beauty talk, though 생얼 is the more casual slang. In spelling, prefix 맨- is attached to the noun (맨발) while 맨 meaning 'the very' is written with a space (맨 앞).
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