A 사자성어 is a proverb consisting of four letter Chinese characters. Today’s 사자성어 is going to be 出嫁外人, pronounced as 출가외인. This character 出 means ‘to leave, exit’. 嫁 = married. 外 = outside. 人 = person. Altogether, this proverb is saying that a person who is married is basically someone who has left her family or is an outsider to her family.

In a larger cultural context, this proverb is referring to newly married girls who leave their family to live with their husbands’ family. It may not apply to the women of today, because many couples are increasingly choosing to live separately from their parents. The idea of living with one’s family after marriage is an old idea that follows the Confucian tradition of respecting your parents. In most cases, when the woman got married, she would move in with her husband’s family. Sometimes the husband would live with the woman’s family, especially if the husband was the younger son.

This proverb can have two similar meanings. It can mean that a woman who has left her own family to be with another family should be considered a stranger to her own family. In other words, once a woman marries, her alliances are with her husband’s family. The other meaning is used to describe how a woman who marries into her husband’s family is considered an outsider by the husband’s family despite the fact that she is basically marrying into her husband’s family.

I think that proverbs like this can be revealing, in that they give us some cultural insight into Korean beliefs and ideas. That being said, a lot has changed since the time when women were considered subordinate beings. It would be wrong to just automatically assume that this proverb is an insight into how Korean people think today.