Latest posts (page 6)
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뭐라고요? (mworagoyo?) — For When You Didn't Catch It, and When You Can't Believe It: The Question Koreans Ask Several Times a Day
**뭐라고요? (mworagoyo?)** is how you ask someone to repeat themselves — "Sorry, what did you just say?" — either because you didn't hear them or because you can't
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명연기 (myeongyeon-gi) — When the Drama Ends but You Keep Replaying That One Scene
**명연기 (myeongyeon-gi)** means acting so outstanding that the actor has completely made the character their own and shakes the heart of whoever is watching. Ther
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면세점 (myeonsejeom) — The Night Before a Flight, the Favor Koreans Get Asked Most
**면세점 (myeonsejeom)** means a store — at the airport or downtown — that sells goods with the taxes taken off. Once you've cleared immigration and you're walking
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노안 (noan) — The Word Koreans Reach For When the Menu Suddenly Moves Farther Away
Someone picks up the menu at a restaurant and suddenly stretches an arm all the way out. They hold the menu far from their face and squint a little. Then the fr
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뇌피셜 (noepisyeol) — The 'Official Announcement' That Came Out of My Own Head
**뇌피셜 (noepisyeol)** refers to putting forward a thought that came from nowhere but your own head as if it were an official announcement — or to the claim itsel
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How to Master Nunchi — Korea's Superpower
If you watch K-dramas, there's one word you'll hear all the time.
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How to Master Nunchi — Korea's Superpower
If you watch K-dramas, there's one word you'll hear all the time.
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온천 (oncheon) — Time to Soak in Water the Earth Warmed for You
**온천 (oncheon)** means a facility built so you can bathe in water that was heated naturally underground — or the spring from which that water rises. The importa
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파혼 (pahon) — The Word That Comes After the Invitations Have Gone Out
**파혼 (pahon)** means breaking off a promise to marry. It isn't a couple who were dating and split up, and it isn't a legally registered married couple parting w
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뼈 때리다 (ppyeo ttaerida) — If It Hurts, That Means It's True
**뼈 때리다 (ppyeo ttaerida)** literally means “to hit the bone.” It describes saying something so exactly right that it hurts — putting your finger precisely on a
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Rabokki — Add One Portion of Noodles and the Name Changes
Look at the menu board in a Korean 분식집 (bunsikjip, snack bar) and you'll find another name sitting right under 떡볶이 (tteokbokki). It's **라볶이 (rabokki)**. 라볶이 mea
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새드엔딩 (saedeuending) — I Waited Six Months and It Ends Like THAT?
**새드엔딩 (saedeuending)** means an ending in which the story finishes sadly. It refers to a conclusion where the main character never gets the one thing they long
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생신 (saengsin) — The Respectful Word for "Birthday": Who Gets It, and When
You hear this a lot in Korean offices: "다음 주 금요일에 연차 좀 쓰겠습니다. 어머니 생신이라서요." ("I'd like to take a day off next Friday. It's my mother's birthday.") But when that
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사주 (saju) — Your Birth Year, Month, Day, and Hour: The Story Written in Four Pillars
**사주 (saju) means the four sexagenary signs that mark the year, month, day, and hour of a person's birth — and, by extension, the destiny read from those four s
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Death Flag — Why “Once This Job Is Over” Is a Dangerous Line in K-Dramas
**사망 플래그 (samang peullaegeu)**, literally “death flag,” is the expression Koreans use for a line or an action in a drama or film that tips you off in advance th
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사모님 (samonim) — The Polite Word for Another Man's Wife, and the Title You Hear Most in Korean Dramas
**사모님 (samonim)** is a polite word meaning one's teacher's wife, another person's wife, or the wife of someone above you. If you've watched Korean dramas for an
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사수 (sasu) — "Defend It With Your Life": A Battlefield Word That Now Lives on a Picnic Mat
**사수 (sasu)** means "guarding something with your life on the line." In hanja it's 死守 — 죽을 사 (死), the character for "die," joined to 지킬 수 (守), the character for
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사투리 (saturi): The Words That Feel Warmer Precisely Because They Aren't Standard
**사투리 (saturi)** means speech used only in certain regions — language that isn't the standard. If you watch enough Korean dramas, sooner or later a scene comes
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Second Male Lead Syndrome — The Place Your Heart Goes Even When You Know the Ending
**서브남주 신드롬 (seobeunamju sindeurom)** — "second male lead syndrome" — is the term for a familiar drama phenomenon: the viewer's heart leans toward the second mal
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설날 (seollal) — The Day One Bowl of Tteokguk Adds a Year to Your Age
**설날 (seollal)** means the first day of the first lunar month — the biggest holiday in Korea, marking the start of a brand-new year. Because it follows the luna
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선생님 (seonsaengnim) — The Title You Hear More Often Outside the Classroom
**선생님 (seonsaengnim)** is the honorific word for a person who teaches students — and also a polite word you attach after someone's family name or job title to r
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신스틸러 (sinseutilleo) — The Person You Remember Longer Than the Lead
**신스틸러 (sinseutilleo)** — literally "scene stealer" — is someone who isn't the lead, yet takes all your attention in the brief moment they appear: a person who
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시월드 (siwoldeu) — The Country You Enter Without a Passport When You Get Married
**시월드 (siwoldeu)** likens the entire web of relationships a married woman takes on with her husband's family to a single ‘world.’ Her husband's mother and fathe
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소개팅 (sogaeting) — Meeting Someone for the First Time on a Bridge Another Person Built
**소개팅 (sogaeting)** means a one-on-one meeting between a man and a woman arranged by someone in the middle who introduces them. It corresponds to the English *b
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속초 (Sokcho) — The Name That Holds Seoraksan and the East Sea in One City
**속초 (Sokcho)** is the name of a city on the East Sea coast of Gangwon State — a place where Seoraksan rises behind you and the East Sea opens in front of you,
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손님 (sonnim) — At the Shop, At Home: The Honorific Koreans Use Ten Times a Day
**손님 (sonnim)** means a person who has come from somewhere else to see you, or — said with respect — a person who has come into a shop, an event venue, or a veh
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소통하다 (sotonghada) — The Word That Connects Idols and Fans
If you love Korean idols, there's simply no avoiding the word “소통 (sotong).” **소통하다 (sotonghada)** means that two sides' intentions or thoughts flow through to
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수제비 (sujebi) — A Bowl of Broth for a Rainy Day, Torn Off by Hand, Piece by Piece
**수제비 (sujebi)** literally means a dish made by kneading wheat flour into dough and tearing it into boiling broth bit by bit to cook. Monsoon rain hammering the
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숙소 (sukso): The Two Syllables That Decide Half Your Trip
**숙소 (sukso)** means a place other than your own home where you stay temporarily. A hotel at your travel destination, a motel you check into on a business trip,
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수록곡 (surokgok) — The Word for the Songs Hiding Behind the Title Track
**수록곡 (surokgok)** means "a song included on an album." It points to each individual track packed into a single record — but among Korean music fans, the moment
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Time Slip — I Fell Into a Well and Woke Up in Joseon
**타임슬립 (taimseullip)** means slipping across time and landing in another era, past or future. Watch Korean dramas long enough and you are guaranteed to meet thi
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타이틀곡 (taiteulgok) — The One Song That Becomes the Album's Face
**타이틀곡 (taiteulgok)** means the song that represents a particular album. An album may hold ten tracks, but usually only one of them goes on the TV music shows,
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떡상 (tteoksang) — What Koreans Say When a Price or a Person's Fame Skyrockets Overnight
**떡상 (tteoksang)** is internet slang for a price, a view count, or someone's popularity shooting up explosively in a very short time. When something that cost 3
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뜨아 (tteua) — The Two-Syllable Coffee Order You'll Hear All Day in Korea
**뜨아 (tteua)** is a two-syllable shortening of 뜨거운 아메리카노 (tteugeoun amerikano), a hot Americano. You'll hear it at the café counter, in the office when someone
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우정출연 (ujeongchuryeon) — The Four Syllables That Show Up Quietly in the Credits
**우정출연 (ujeongchuryeon)** means an actor showing up very briefly in a production — at the request of a director or a colleague they're close to — for little or
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원작 (wonjak) — The Line That Always Flashes On Screen in Episode 1
**원작 (wonjak)** means the original work — a work as it stood before it was turned into the script of a play or a movie, or translated into another language. Put
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여보세요 (yeoboseyo) — Same Word Through the Phone and Face to Face, but a World Apart in Tone
**여보세요 (yeoboseyo)** is an interjection used to call the person on the other end of a phone line, and also to get the attention of someone standing nearby. It's
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열린 결말 (yeollin gyeolmal) — The Drama Ending That Ends Without Ending
**열린 결말 (yeollin gyeolmal) means a way of wrapping up a story that doesn't fix the ending as one single thing, but leaves it open to be read several different w
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유닛 (yunit) — When Another Team Forms Inside the Group
**유닛 (yunit)** means a small team formed when a few members of one group get together and promote separately. Instead of an idol group of more than ten people t
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유심 (yusim) — the first Korean word you learn at Incheon Airport arrivals
When you land at Incheon Airport, pick up your bags, and the arrivals doors slide open, a row of mobile carrier booths is standing right there in front of you.
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애정결핍 (aejeong-gyeolpip) — The Name Korean Gives to a Hungry Heart
**애정결핍 (aejeong-gyeolpip)** means the state of a heart that stays hungry because it hasn't been given enough love and attention. Skip your meals and your stomac
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애틋하다 (aeteutada) — When a Drop of Wistfulness Mixes into the Love You Hold
**애틋하다 (aeteutada)** means that your affection for someone runs deep, and at the same time that feeling can't quite reach them, so you're left wistful and achin
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앨범깡 (aelbeomkkang) — Tearing Open Ten Albums for the Sake of One Photocard
**앨범깡 (aelbeomkkang)** means buying several copies of the same album and ripping them open one after another in order to pull a photocard of the member you want
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안물안궁 (anmul-angung) — Cutting "I didn't ask and I'm not curious" down to four syllables
**안물안궁 (anmul-angung)** is a piece of slang that squeezes "안 물어봤고, 안 궁금하다 (an mureobwatgo, an gunggeumhada)" — "I didn't ask, and I'm not curious" — into four s
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밥심 (bapsim) — the Korean word for the strength that comes from eating
**밥심 (bapsim)** means the strength that appears in you after you've eaten. In Korea, when someone is drooping with exhaustion, the first thing out of your mouth
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발이 넓다 (bari neolda) — Why Korean Says “Knows a Lot of People” with Feet
**발이 넓다 (bari neolda)** describes someone who knows so many people that their connections reach into all sorts of circles and all sorts of fields. When you’re s
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빌런 (billeon) — Not a Supervillain, Just *That* Person
**빌런 (billeon)** started out as the English word *villain* — the bad guy in a movie. But in Korean today it means **someone whose over-the-top behavior in a giv
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복날 (boknal) — Three Days a Year, When Koreans Eat the Hottest Thing on the Hottest Day
When mid-July comes around, a line forms outside Korea's 삼계탕 (samgyetang) restaurants every lunch hour — long enough to curl around the corner of the alley. Peo
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복세편살 (bokse-pyeonsal) — "Live Easy in a Complicated World": Four Syllables That Hold a Korean Survival Strategy
**복세편살 (bokse-pyeonsal)** is a four-syllable compression of 복잡한 세상 편하게 살자 (bokjaphan sesang pyeonhage salja), "let's live easy in a complicated world." It means
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복선 (bokseon) — Why Koreans Restart Episode One the Moment the Finale Ends
복선 (bokseon) is a device in a novel or a drama that quietly tips the reader off, ahead of time, about an event still to come. There is that moment in the small