검

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

Sino-Korean word from 劍 (“knife”), from the Middle Korean reading 검〯 (Yale: kěm).

검 • (geom) (hanja 劍)

1. sword

• See the hanja entry at 劍 for Sino-Korean compounds of 검 (劍, geom).

Sino-Korean word from 檢 (“examine, inspect”).

검 • (geom) (hanja 檢)

1. Short for 검찰(檢察) (geomchal, “the prosecutor's office”).

• Often written in the hanja form in news headlines.

Of native Korean origin. Probably cognate with Japanese 神(かみ) (kami, “God”); note the long vowel, which implies an Old Korean bisyllabic form (hence likely *kemV).

검 • (geom)

1. (obsolete, very rare) (religion) god; spirit
   • 1938, 현진건／玄鎭健<t:Hyun Jin-Geon>, 무영탑 [Muyeongtap, The Shadowless Pagoda]:

     그에게는 검님보다도 부처님보다도 더 거룩하고 더 반가운 이름이 아니었던가?

     Geuegeneun geomnimbodado bucheonimbodado deo georukhago deo ban'gaun ireumi anieotdeon'ga?

     Was it not a name holier and more welcome to him than a god or a Buddha?

• Very rare, close to being a dictionary-only ghost word in practice. Apparently not attested in Middle or Early Modern Korean; possibly only attested in certain toponyms. Even shamanic songs, which could be assumed to better preserve indigenous religious vocabulary, almost uniformly use Sino-Korean 신 (神, sin, “god; deity”), 명신 (明神, myeongsin, “august divinity”), etc.