Hangul 고수 Revised Romanization Gosu | Hanja 高手 McCune–Reischauer Kosu | |
Gosu (고수) is a Korean term used to refer to a highly skilled person. In computer gaming the term is usually used to refer to a person who dominated games like StarCraft, Counter-Strike, Warcraft III, Heroes Charge, Diablo II, DotA, League of Legends and others. The term was adopted by gaming communities in many countries because of a large South Korean presence in online gaming communities.
Contents
Origin
The origin of the term is from hanja: 高手, literally "high hand", also meaning pro or highly skilled at something, is used for a person with skill, usually in martial arts or in the game of go. In the dialect of the Gyeongnam province, gosu also has the meaning of "leader".
Related terms
Though not as popular, there are also several other commonly used Korean words for describing gamers with various skill levels. Joongsu (hangul: 중수, hanja: 中手, literally "middle hand") stands for "a moderately good player", hasu (hangul: 하수, hanja: 下手, literally "low hand") for "a poor player" or "a person with no skill" and chobo (hangul: 초보, Hàn-jī: 初步, literally "first step") for "a novice player". Hasu and chobo are the same skill level, but hasu is disrespectful or derogatory (whereas chobo is not). The English equivalent to hasu would be "newbie" or "scrub" and chobo would be "beginner".