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Slang from South Korea

aegyo (์• ๊ต)

Cute display of affection (often done by celebrities).

๐Ÿ”ฅ 86 upvotes

aegyo (์• ๊ต)

An overly cute, childlike display of affection or charm (common behavior for idols).

banchan (๋ฐ˜์ฐฌ)

Side dishes (essential part of a Korean meal, often served with main dishes).

bbaekkom (๋นผ๊ผผ)

Peeking out; popping up (onomatopoeia for a quick peek).

beolddeok (๋ฒŒ๋–ก)

Suddenly standing up; bouncing up (onomatopoeia for quick movement).

bulgeum (๋ถˆ๊ธˆ)

Fire Friday; TGIF (The Golden Friday, referring to a fun Friday night).

๐Ÿ”ฅ 90 upvotes

cha-mak (์ฐจ๋ง‰)

Traffic jam; traffic congestion (short for "cha ga mak-hi-da").

chimac (์น˜๋งฅ)

Chicken and beer (a popular combination, from "chicken" + "maekju" (beer)).

choding (์ดˆ๋”ฉ)

Elementary schooler (often used pejoratively for immature adults).

๐Ÿ”ฅ 58 upvotes

chongdae (์ด๋Œ€)

The person who takes the initiative or takes responsibility (literally "spearhead").

chuseyo (์ฃผ์„ธ์š”)

Please give me... (polite request, often used informally).

๐Ÿ”ฅ 77 upvotes

comeback

The release of a new album or single by a K-pop artist.

daebak (๋Œ€๋ฐ•)

Awesome; jackpot; used to express amazement at a successful song, drama, or performance.

daebak (๋Œ€๋ฐ•)

Awesome; amazing; huge success (literally "big hit").

๐Ÿ”ฅ 65 upvotes

deuktem (๋“ํ…œ)

Getting a desired item, often unexpectedly or at a good price (from "deuktemhada" - to acquire an item).

๐Ÿ”ฅ 73 upvotes

eolggeum (์–ผ๊ธˆ)

Face game; looking good (used for focusing on visual attractiveness in dating).

eomchinah (์—„์นœ์•„)

Moms friends son (someone who is perfect in every way, often used sarcastically).

๐Ÿ”ฅ 66 upvotes

eoryeopda (์–ด๋ ต๋‹ค)

Difficult; hard (can be used to express a tricky situation or embarrassment).

๐Ÿ”ฅ 60 upvotes

eoryeopta (์–ด๋ ต๋‹ค)

Difficult; hard (can be used to express a tricky situation or embarrassment).

๐Ÿ”ฅ 83 upvotes

gapbunssa (๊ฐ‘๋ถ„์‹ธ)

Suddenly awkward atmosphere (abbreviation of "gapjagi bunwigiga ssahaejinda" - suddenly the atmosphere became cold).

geumsa (๊ธˆ์‚ฌ)

Falling in love quickly (from "geumsa-sarang-e ppajinda" - falling in love quickly).

gganbu (๊น๋ถ€)

Friend; buddy (revived from Squid Game, can imply a close, trusted bond, potentially romantic).

gogi (๊ณ ๊ธฐ)

Meat (general term, but widely used when talking about BBQ or meat dishes).

golmot (๊ณจ๋ชฉ)

Alley; backstreet (often used for local, hidden gems).

gongbu (๊ณต๋ถ€)

Study; studying (standard, but central).

gopchang (๊ณฑ์ฐฝ)

Intestines (sometimes used as an insult meaning someone is disgusting or a gutless person).

go-ra-ngi (๊ณ ๋ผ๋‹ˆ)

A person who makes a lot of mistakes or is clumsy online (from "goh-rah-ni" - Korean water deer, which is known for being clumsy).

gukppong (๊ตญ๋ฝ•)

Excessive nationalism; nationalistic intoxication (often used critically).

gwanjong (๊ด€์ข…)

Attention seeker; used to describe someone who dresses flashy to get attention.

honbap (ํ˜ผ๋ฐฅ)

Eating alone (from "honja" - alone + "bap" - rice/meal).

hwaiting (ํ™”์ดํŒ…)

Fighting!; Go for it!; Good luck! (Korean pronunciation of "fighting").

๐Ÿ”ฅ 63 upvotes

hwakjaeng (ํ™•์ •)

Confirmed; decided (often used informally for plans).

๐Ÿ”ฅ 89 upvotes

hwaryeong-i (ํ™”๋ฃก์ด)

Someone who is a burden or trouble (literally "fire dragon," implies bringing trouble).

hyung (ํ˜•)

Older brother (used by males to older males, also for close male friends).

๐Ÿ”ฅ 63 upvotes

jib-cha (์ฐ์ฐจ)

SUV or 4x4 vehicle (from the brand "Jeep," but used generically).

jijeong (์ง€์ •)

Designated; specified (often used informally for a specific place or time).

jjaemsi (์žผ์‹œ)

Funny (abbreviation of "jaemi-itda" - to be fun/interesting).

jjae-sa (์งธ์‚ฌ)

To skip an online meeting or class (from "jjaelda" - to skip, + "sa" - four).

jjang (์งฑ)

Best; awesome (used to praise a post or person online).

jjeonda (์ฉ๋‹ค)

Awesome; amazing; incredible (stronger than daebak, often for something unexpected).

kkaejeong (๊นจ์ •)

Broken heart; heartbreak (short for "maeum-i kkaejida" - heart breaking).

kkamnol (๊นœ๋†€)

Shocked; surprised (abbreviation of "kkamjjak nollada" - to be very surprised).

kkondae (๊ผฐ๋Œ€)

An old person (especially a man) who is condescending and inflexible; boomer.

kkuljaem (๊ฟ€์žผ)

Very fun; interesting (literally "honey jam").

๐Ÿ”ฅ 69 upvotes

majjib (๋ง›์ง‘)

A good restaurant; a "taste house" (often used when suggesting a date spot).

mamjjit (๋ง˜์ฐข)

Heart-wrenching; heartbreaking (from "ma-eum-i jjitgineun" - heart torn).

misaeng (๋ฏธ์ƒ)

An unfinished life; someone still striving or incomplete (from a popular webtoon/drama).

๐Ÿ”ฅ 74 upvotes

motgeum (๋ชป๊ธˆ)

Cannot bear it; unbearable (short for "mot gyeondida").

๐Ÿ”ฅ 79 upvotes

nojaem (๋…ธ์žผ)

Not fun; boring (opposite of kkuljaem, "no jam").

๐Ÿ”ฅ 63 upvotes

noona (๋ˆ„๋‚˜)

Older sister (used by males to older females, also for close female friends).

oppa (์˜ค๋น )

Older brother (used by females to older males, also for boyfriends/male friends).

ppaegom (๋นผ๊ผผ)

Peeking out; popping up (can be used for peeking at answers in an exam).

ppakgong (๋นก๊ณต)

Intense studying; studying very hard (from "ppakssaege gongbu").

ppakom (๋นก๊ณต)

Intense studying; studying very hard (from "ppakssaege gongbu").

saekki (์ƒˆ๋ผ)

Bastard; son of a bitch (can be very offensive, or milder among close friends depending on context).

saengka (์ƒ๊นŒ)

To ignore; to pretend not to know (informal, sometimes rude).

sasaeng (์‚ฌ์ƒ)

An extreme, obsessive fan who stalks or invades the privacy of idols.

sasaeng (์‚ฌ์ƒ)

An obsessive fan who invades the privacy of celebrities.

๐Ÿ”ฅ 81 upvotes

selca (์…€์นด)

Selfie (from "self camera").

๐Ÿ”ฅ 54 upvotes

simkung (์‹ฌ์ฟต)

Heart throb; heart-stopping (used when seeing someone attractive or feeling a sudden romantic feeling).

soksaeng (์†์ƒ)

A quick thinker; quick-witted (from "sokdoe-go saenggakhanda").

๐Ÿ”ฅ 91 upvotes

ssom (์ธ)

The state of having a "something" going on with someone, but not officially dating.

ssom-bap (์ธ๋ฐฅ)

The "talking stage" of a relationship, but online only (from "ssom" + "bap" - rice/meal).

suseoeng (์ˆ˜๋Šฅ)

CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test), the nationwide college entrance exam.

taksi (ํƒ์‹œ)

Taxi (from English "taxi," widely used for any cab).

tteokttul (๋–ก๋šค)

Blockhead; thick-headed (from "tteok" - rice cake, implying density).

uljjang (์–ผ์งฑ)

Best face; a person with a good-looking face (from "eolgul" - face + "jjang" - best).

uljjang (์–ผ์งฑ)

Best face; someone with a very attractive face (from "eolgul" (face) + "jjang").

unnie (์–ธ๋‹ˆ)

Older sister (used by females to older females, also for close female friends).

yashik (์•ผ์‹)

Late-night snack/meal (very common culture of ordering late-night food).