A reference for terms that are frequently used in our pages:
#18: Refers to the standby song that you always sing when in a norae-bang (singing room)
Ajumma: (아줌마) a married woman characterized by short permed hair and aggressive attitude
Ajusshi: (아저씨) generally a married or older man characterized by poor sense of fashion and a huge ego
Apku (short for “Apkujong-dong”): Hip and happening area on the south side of the Han River in Gangnam. This is where the best restaurants, bars and plastic surgeons are located. A hang-out for celebrities and the stylish. Adjoining neighborhoods are Cheongdam-dong, Samsung-dong and Shinsa-dong.
Back: (빽) strong and powerful social connections that can get you what you want (i.e. a job)
Black Day: (블랙 데이) Exactly 1 month after White Day (March 14th), it’s the day where singles eat “jja-jang-myun” (Korean style black bean noodles)
CC: acronym for “campus couple” or couples who meet and date during school (or sometimes work). A publicly announced school couple.
CF: acronym for “commercial film” or better known as “t.v. commercial”
Chaebol: (재벌) Large conglomerates that are run by families such as Samsung, LG/GS, Hyundai, Lotte etc.
Dica: a Konglish term that is the shortened from “digital camera”
Dongsaeng: (동생) a younger sister/brother
Gong-ju Byeong (공주병) literally refers to “princess sickness/disease”; a female who thinks she is a princess and above everyone else; conceited and vain.
Hoobae: (후배) a person who is younger than you at school or work
Hyung: (형) Older brother or close older male (used by males only) Being “hyung” comes with responsibilities
Kyopo (교포) A person of Korean descent who has lived in the west
Jjim-jil-bang (찜질방): Korean style sauna and public bath with services such as Korean style exfoliation, massages, and other body treatments. Good for families and friends to hang out, relax and enjoy the “spa” food.
Maknae (막내): The youngest or baby in the family or group.
Namchin: (남친/남자친구) short for “namja chingu” which means boyfriend
NG: “Not good” A term used for outtakes when filming a movie or taping a television show
Noraebang (노래방): a singing room to practice your #18 (see above). Generally cheaper than Karaoke, which is considered to be more posh and upscale rooms with luxurious decor and usually delicious anjoo (side dishes with drinks).
Moos: (무다리) our own term derived from “moo-dari” or thick or hefty calves in reference to the shape of “moo” or Korean turnip
MV: music video
Nae-soong: (내숭) inconsistency between a girl’s true personality (i.e. extroverted), and external (i.e. introverted, shy and innocent) personality. In other words, trying to hide your true intentions self by acting sweet and innocent.
No chu nyu: (노처녀) an old maid or spinster
Nuna: (누나) a term used by males to address older sisters or older women
Mohm-sal: (몸살) a condition when your body is unable to function (i.e. get up) due to exhaustion or extreme fatigue- a uniquely Korean phenomenon. Many ajummas get this. However, “mohm-sal” affects all ages.
MT: “membership training” is a casual term that refers to trips taken for the purpose of bringing the members of a group closer together. Generally involves overnight stays, recreational activity (hiking, skiing etc) and drinking.
Netizen: a term for “internet citizens” or persons who are part of the internet community.
Om-chin-ah: (엄마친구아들): short for my mother’s friend’s son. A mother’s friend who brags about her son’s accomplishments (generally work or school related) and the lowly son has to hear about it.
Oppa: (오빠) older brother or close older male (used by females only). Being “oppa” comes with responsibilities
Oppa-dongsaeng 
오빠-동생) used to describe a relationship between an older male and younger female. Also commonly used by celebrities to cover up their romantic relationship
Baram-doong-i: (바람둥이) a playboy; someone who is smooth with the ladies
Pama: (파마) a perm
Pi-bu-mi-in: (피부미인) a woman who has beautiful skin
Pepero Day: (빼빼로 데이) An informal holiday on November 11 (11.11) where peppero chocolate sticks are given out as presents
s-line: refers to the shape of a woman’s body
selca: (셀카): term that refers to “self-camera” or taking pictures of yourself
Sogaeting: (소개팅) blind date
Ssang-ul: (쌩얼) bare face or without make-up
Ssulung: (썰렁)a term widely used to describe cheesy jokes (literal translation: it’s cold)
Sunbae: (선배) a word used to address people that are older than you, usually in more formal situations
UCC: refers to “User Created Content” or short video clips
Ul-jjang: (얼짱) a term created by netizens to describe a person with the best face (ul-gul [얼굴]: face and jjang [짱]: best)
Unni (언니) or “sister.” The term is used for referring to your real older sister (by a girl) and to a close older female (by a female). Also see “noona”
v-line: refers to the ideal face shape in Korea- a “v” or oval.
Yang-dari (양다리) : a two-timer; having 2 boyfriends/girlfriends at the same time
Yeochin: (여친/여자친구) short for ‘Yeoja Chingu’ which means girlfriend
Wang ja: (왕자) 6 pack or washboard abs
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Holidays and Traditions in Korea
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November 11: Pepero Day. The chocolate covered biscuit sticks are eaten or given out as presents since it resembles the day “11.11″
Mid November : College entrance exams. (usually on the coldest day of the year) To “stick” or pass the exam, friends and family give test takers chocolates, rice cakes or “yeot” (traditional taffy) for good luck.
December 25: Christmas. Generally, the holiday is spent hanging out with close friends more than family.
January 1, New Years: Spent with family. To bring in the new year, rice-cake soup (떡국) is traditionally eaten. Yum!
January/February: Lunar New Year. One of the 2 biggest holidays of the year (the other is Chuseok) to celebrate the new lunar year. The dates varies according to the lunar calendar.
February 14, Valentines Day: Celebrated on February 14, On this day, the women give chocolates or big basket of goodies to their men. This tradition is opposite to the west.
March 14, White day: Celebrated on March 14, exactly 1 month after Valentines Day. On this day, the men give chocolates or big basket of goodies to their women
April 14:. Black day: A day for lonely singles. Celebrated exactly 1 month after White Day (see above) where single friends meet up to eat Jjajang-myun (짜장면 or Korean style black bean noodles) to mourn their status and to perhaps catch the eye of an attractive single slurping down noodles….
June 14: Kiss day. Yep, that’s right. The brilliant minds of someone in the land of the morning calm have thought of an excuse to kiss someone. So pucker up and plant one on whoever your heart desires…
That cleared things up!! Thanks guys! And keep on bringin’ those great news. ^^
christaluvsdrama – thanks for answering the questions and for the suggestions!!!!
wow WAT A GREAT SITE!! i have been visiting this page like EVERYDAY since i discovered it a few weeks back, its so addictive!! and i had just discovered this terminology page which makes things a lot more understandable… keep it up!!
P.S: KIM KIBUM IS SO SEXY!! *faints*
what’s “elves” and “cassepieoias”?
@ SELAH
“elves” is the name for the Super Junior fanclub and “cassiopeias” is the one for TVXQ/DBSK
lol the terminologies are great! i’m a fob and the terminologies r so cute and true lol
i really like the humor in this site… i make it a point to read all the postings. I just opened this page on the terminologies and its fun reading them. Uhmm i just learned of the Black
to PARKJIEUN : If you don’t mind, can you explain me why they’re called elves and cassiopoeias ?
Theres a question Id like to ask. In Korea I mean according to the Korean custom, do children take their surname after their fathers? or do sons take after their fathers and daughters take after their mothers?
isnt wang ja supposed to be wang JJA with double ji-eut?
@ genius yes it is pronounced wang jja
@ michelle the children take their surname after there father regardless their gender so if my dad’s lastname is yoon my lastname is yoon and so is my sister and brother’s. just like america (i’m a girl)
@ ily – Thankyou for replying. I was a bit confused because Kim Tae Hee and Lee Wan have diff surnames and they’re siblings. Han Ye Seul’s english name is Leslie Kim ( again the diff surname). But then Uhm Tae Woong and Uhm Jung Hwa are siblings and they do have the same surname. Anyways thanks again.
=)
I’m totally in love with this site…I love how you always have the latest Kpop news…but that that is always dry humor/sarcasm in addition to the entertainment news…
I loved the terminologies…I know of a fellow coworker who’s addicted to Korean dramas, and she’s always asking me the same things…she’s always asking me about the subtitles, and how doesn’t seem to go well with the words that are actually being said on the show…
In response to Michelle’s questions…lots of Korean celebrities have a stage name. They’ll either change their name for 1) there’s another celebritiy with that name (example Park Eun Hye/Hae and Lexy (her name is also Park Eun Hye/Hae) 2) they want a catchy, less “chone-she-run” (countyish/ugly) name (example Gong Yu is really Gong Ji Chul) 3) some people will just change their last name to have a better stage name (example Han Ye Seul is really Kim Ye Seul). The name changes are “highly” recommended by agent/entermainment managment…who pretty much owe the celebrities. In addition to name change, they “choose” their characters for them (example HaHa and his “young boy” character on Infinity Challenge)…
@ Jenny – thank you heaps for your explanation. =]
“wang ja” can also mean prince
when prounounced “wang jja” = 6pack
What does APKU mean? like from this post where it talks about Kim Bokyung : http://popseoul.com/2008/03/20/son-jung-wan-fall-collection-attracts-stars/
Wang-jja – Wang means King, Jja means symbol. The Chinese symbol for King looks like a six-pack. three horizontal lines with one vertical, hence, wang-jja = six pack.
Barrahm-doongie – player; it means drifting where-ever the wind takes one.
adding ‘nim’ to the end of a name or title is honorific. I.E. Hyung-nim, Seonsaeng-nim, noo-nim, abeo-nim. equivalent to japanese ’sama.’
shi is mr/ms
another reason siblings have different last names(surnames) is because they are celebrities and they have stage names or names they use in the public han yeseul is probably one of them. they could have changed their names too
Popseoul should give us more of these terms! its pretty interesting reading this lol!
you should put in dweon-jang nyeo: girls who really aren’t much, but act as if they are by placing an overemphasis on designer items and foreign things, i.e. they only drink starbucks b/c it’s expensive and foreign and they think it gives them cachet.
in my experience, -nim doesn’t exactly correlate to -sama… it’s a little less formal than that. would you refer to your teacher as -sama? otou-sama doesn’t really have a familiar ring to it (hyung-nim, on the other hand, is almost exclusively used among, and parodied with regards to, gangsters, who refer to their seniors/superiors in the gang by that term). -shi is a bit less formal than -nim, and doesn’t always mean mr/ms in the strictest sense, although its range of formality does cover it. there is also -yang, which is more formal than -shi.
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What does “selca” mean??
Bella: “Selca” is included in the list – selca: (셀카): term that refers to “self-camera” or taking pictures of yourself.
I am not sure if it is a real world, or it is just an online slang. I have used it on cyworld before and an online friend of mines was confused. I mentioned it in my message and he did not know what it meant O__o
sorry, but noticed a spelling mistake.
아주마 (X) -> 아줌마 (O)
you can use 아주마, but technically, if you want to use 표준어, which you have been for rest of the vocabs, 아줌마 is more commonly used and correct. 아주마 is a derivative of 아줌마 in 사투리.
and why did u only put Moos for 무다리?;;;
무다리 Moodari
as for Back, yes, that’s what it means and that’s how it “should” be spelled in Korean, but in reality, people say it 빽 instead of 백, but this is just for pronunciation sake.
Perhaps you should include some latest netizen vocabs such as 지못미, 안습, etc. and other important Korean holidays such as 단오 just to be more educational and informational.
Does anyone know bbo-rok means? Please help!!! Thanks
뽀록, in English bbo-rok means someone found out what you had lied about.
like 뽀록 Obama? lol jk… jk
I want to make friend with korean people. Please invite mrwaihin@gmail.com
it’s very interesting to read these as a korean person!
it’s really hard to explain certain korean terms in english
interestinG!
i was just confused with:
-the sounds of ‘g’ and ‘k’
(i heard sum1 said kamsahamnida and gamsahamnida;))
-sounds of ‘p’ and ‘b’
-and the vowel sounds like ‘ae’, ‘oo’.'ii’
i mean is there really a big difference on how you pronounce certain words???
help!haha;)
thankS!
Woah interesting =D haha!! learn something everyday!! haha (y)
I have a question. What does wangja byung means? Six pack? Or prince?
first time to view this site and was really astonished with the terms used! very helpful indeed esp for people like me who are just beginning to study korean language and culture. (^^,)v
interestinG!
i was just confused with:
-the sounds of ‘g’ and ‘k’
(i heard sum1 said kamsahamnida and gamsahamnida;))
-sounds of ‘p’ and ‘b’
-and the vowel sounds like ‘ae’, ‘oo’.’ii’
i mean is there really a big difference on how you pronounce certain words???
help!haha;)
thankS!
——————–
1. The letters g and k are the same in Korean (ᄀ), I think ‘g’ is just written sometimes (in English) so that non-Korean speaking people do not stress the ‘k’ sound – for if its stressed too much, it becomes a different letter: ᄁ or ᄏ. So it is sometimes more safe to use the letter ‘g.’
2. The same rule for b and p (ᄇ). The actual sound is a mix between the two. Example: “선배” which means “senior” is pronounced “seonbae” with a strict ‘b’ sound. Although some words that begin with this letter like “바람” (“param” = wind) are pronounced with more ‘p’ sound.
3. The sounds ['Ae' = 애], ['Oo' = 우], & ['Ii' = 이] are three completely different letters in the Korean language. And YES, if you pronounce these vowels incorrectly, you are screwing up the word and people are not likely to understand you..
Imagine saying
~ “에기” (Egi = ???)” when you meant “애기” (Aegi = baby)…
or
~ “배밀” (Paemil = ???) when you meant “비밀” (Pimil = secret).
I know that was a wordy explanaition, but I hope it helps. Ahhh…. ᄏ ᄏ ᄏ….. I’m so silly.
Ohh and to B -
Wangja Byeong 왕자병, means like “Prince Complex/Disease” which is the same as the above description of gongju byeong, only for guys. I think. haha
nina,
Thx for the explaination! I was so confused with the terms. Thx a lot! =)
wow niNa
super ThanKs!!!
haHa..
im enlightened!
Gamsahamnida!
kamsahamnida …..
thank’s …
hehe i like March 14 xD
@miss DNA
YAY FULL HOUSE!!!!!
WOW thanks a bunch mwah
Question >< :
How do you pronounce “Jja” and when the word has the double “Ss-” in it?
@TOP♥ – “Jja”, in basic, sounds like “cha”. But it really depends on the word itself cause sometimes the double j sounds like a regular j. For example, 짠 (Jjan) which is similar to Ta-da in English, is pronounced like “chan”. Whereas 짱 (Jjang) meaning best has more of a “j” sound to it.
As for the Ss- … I don’t understand that one so well ^^”
I’ve heard it used on SGB when they were introducing SHINee and the MC pronounced it wrong (instead of 샤이니, he said 쌰이니). But other than that, I have no idea. Sorry.
haiiii haiiiiii
hepi nu yier….hehehe
Wow! Finally I undetsand some words…like selca and ulzzang..lol
Thanks for explaing the ‘hyung’ and ‘oppa’ I get so confused at times..but watching dramas help =]
omg..so many typos…
Oh wow, thanks so much for this. It’s a great help! But I think you guys should add ‘maknae’ because it took me awhile to really get what it meant and why exactly it was important to point out that someone was the youngest in a group. Also can someone please explain to me what ’seongsaenim’ means? I’m watching YAMD now and I keep hearing it used…
@ MiniMomu26:
Thank you! It somewhat helps! ^^
@ Yumimaki;
seong saeng nim means teacher .
^ Thank you!