硏究員
연구원
硏 (to grind) + 究 (to investigate to the end) + 員 (member) — "one who grinds and digs to the bottom"
📖 Origin of the Hanja
The hanja "硏" depicts grinding stone (石) flat (幵). "究" combines cave (穴) with the end (九) — to dig to the bottom. "員" depicts a member of a circle (圓). 硏究員 = "one who grinds and digs to the very end". The first two of the Great Learning's eight items are 格物·致知 — to approach things and exhaust knowledge. The essence of research is the first step of East Asian scholarship. KAIST, KIST, and Seoul National all stand on this foundation.
"硏究 = to grind (硏) and to reach the bottom (究). Research is not discovery — but unceasing grinding."
