haenyeo

H4A1E1N1Y4E1O1

noun

A female diver in South Korea who works harvesting molluscs, seaweed, etc.

OriginKorean 해녀 →
Scrabble 13
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Meanings

nounhaenyeo (plural haenyeos or haenyeo)

plural haenyeos

  1. A female diver in South Korea who works harvesting molluscs, seaweed, etc.

    The haenyeos have a system where they can harvest the nine species of aquatic organisms in a sustainable manner.

    2023, Annie Mercier, Jean-Francois Hamel, Andrew Suhrbier, The World of Sea Cucumbers (page 114)

Origin

  1. Korean해녀
  2. Englishhaenyeo

Borrowed from Korean 해녀 (haenyeo, literally “sea woman”)

More words from Korean

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

haenyeo. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haenyeo

MLA

“haenyeo.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haenyeo. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “haenyeo,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haenyeo.

Source: haenyeo on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.