이른바
이른바 is an adjective that means "so-called" or "alleged". Those both have a negative feeling in English. But I think it also means "what is called" or "what you call", which has a neutral feeling in English.

Is it similar to the expression -(이)라는 or -(이)라고 하는?

For example:

그는 이른바 우등생이다
He is what is called an honor student.

Does it have the same meaning as:

그는 우등생이라는 사람이다.
He is a person that is called an honor student.

감사합니다!

Question

이른바
이른바 is an adjective that means "so-called" or "alleged". Those both have a negative feeling in English. But I think it also means "what is called" or "what you call", which has a neutral feeling in English.

Is it similar to the expression -(이)라는 or -(이)라고 하는?

For example:

그는 이른바 우등생이다	
He is what is called an honor student.

Does it have the same meaning as:

그는 우등생이라는 사람이다.
He is a person that is called an honor student.

감사합니다!

Answer

Yes, it is. It's acceptable.:)

\^o^/

Answer

Yeah, I'm not entirely sure of the construction of this word.

Answer

interesting that they never put a space to separate  이른 & 바.  Technically 바 by itself is a kind of a noun.  I guess maybe it's used so often together that they got merged into a stock phrase at some point.