Text in Korean Like a Pro with Korean Texting Slang! – Seoulistic

Text in Korean Like a Pro with Korean Texting Slang!

If you’re coming to Korea, you will probably have plenty of opportunity to text in Korean. But even if you don’t care to learn how to text in Korean, these little Korean texting slang tidbits will do wonders in understanding your Korean friends via text. Learn these Korean texting slang, and you just might make your Korean friends chuckle πŸ˜‰

 

헐 (heol)

This Korean slang term doesn’t necessarily have a meaning. It’s mostly used to express a mild shock or surprise and at times disappointment. This is mainly used as a non-positive response.

Korean texting example #1:
A: μ–΄λ””μ•Ό? (Where are you?)
B: 집, μ™œ? (Home, why?)
A: 헐… λ§Œλ‚˜κΈ°λ‘œ ν–ˆμž–μ•„ (heol, we were supposed to meet)

Korean texting example #2:
A: 머리 밀어버렸어! (I shaved my head!)
B: 헐… (heol)

Korean texting example #3:
A: λΉ„λ‘˜κΈ° λ¨Ήμ—ˆλ‹€!! (I ateΒ pigeon!!)
B: 헐… (heol…)

Note: This texting slang is age sensitive. It is spoken (mostly by very young people), but 헐 (heol) can be seen in Korean texts used by people up to their late 20’s.

 

γ…‡γ…‡ aka 응 (eung) – Ok/yes

Many Korean texters like to use the least amount of finger movement as possible. And this is totally true with the Korean word for yes/ok, 응 (eung). Instead of wasting precious energy by typing the extra vowel γ…‘ (eu), people just omit it totally and text γ…‡γ…‡.

Korean texting example #1:
A: λ°₯ λ¨Ήμ—ˆμ–΄? (Did you eat?)
B: γ…‡γ…‡ (yes)

Korean texting example #2:
A: 빨리 와! (Hurry and come!)
B: γ…‡γ…‡ (ok)

 

γ…‹γ…‹ (kk) vs γ…Žγ…Ž (hh) vs ν‘Έν•˜ν•˜ (puhaha)

TheΒ equivalentΒ of “haha” or “hehe,” people use γ…‹γ…‹ (kk) or γ…Žγ…Ž (hh) to not necessarily show real laughter but more as a text filler to make their texts in Korean friendlierΒ or lighter. But if someone manages to make a super hilarious joke via text, many people use ν‘Έν•˜ν•˜ (puhaha) to show that there is actual laughter (or at least giggling) going on.

Korean texting example #1:
A: 학ꡐ μ•ˆ κ°”μ–΄ γ…Žγ…Ž (I didn’t go to school haha)

Korean texting example #2:
A: λ‚˜λž‘ λ°₯ λ¨Ήμ„λž˜? (Do you want to eat with me?)
B: 음.. λ³„λ‘œ γ…‹γ…‹ (Umm.. not really haha)

Korean texting example #3:
A: λ‚˜ 였늘 μš”λ¦¬ν•΄μ€„κΉŒ?? (Should I make you food today?)
B: ν‘Έν•˜ν•˜ 됐어 (puhaha no thanks)

 

μ›”μšœ (weolyol) = μ›”μš”μΌ (weolyoil)

This is the Korean texting equivalent of shortening “Monday” to “Mon” which is always useful for all the world’s lazy Korean texters. This can be used for any day of the week, essentially the latter part of μš”μΌ (yoil) is shortened to 욜 (yol).

Korean texting example #1:
A: μ›”μšœ λ§Œλ‚ κΉŒ? (Should we meet mon?)
B: λͺ©μšœ 보자 (Lets meet thur)
Have any more Korean texting terms to add? Feel free to add in the comment section!

Keith
Keith
Keith Kim is a Korean-American who has been living in Korea for almost a decade. Being in a unique position as both a Korean and a non-Korean, he's put all his experience and knowledge for surviving in Korea in Survival Korean . Read it to learn how you can survive in Korea. Follow him on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

17 Comments

  1. Sandra says:

    I’ve encountered with so many more!!! Like, uh… For all the γ…† in the past tense they would shorten it to γ…….
    Like ν–ˆμ–΄ -> ν–‡μ–΄ / κ°”μ–΄-> κ°“μ–΄
    And other most common short forms I’ve always seen:
    μ˜ν™” 봐 -> μ˜ν™” λ°”
    …μ΄μž–μ•„ -> …μ΄μž”μ•„
    λ•Œλ¬Έμ— -> λ•œμ—
    λ„ˆλ¬΄ -> λ„˜

    And they make their texts cute by ending with many γ…‡ and ㅁ s..
    Like 였빀 λ°₯λ¨Ήμ—ˆμ—‰?? Or μ•„ κ·€μ—Ό!!

    Omg there’s too many I almost made a blog post here haha πŸ˜›

  2. Keith says:

    Sandra, write a guest post!!!! hahaha πŸ™‚ Thanks for all the additions

  3. DavidXian says:

    Besides γ…‡γ…‡ people also use γ…‡γ…‹ for OK, γ…‡=o γ…‹=k.
    Then… γ„³ for 감사 (κ°μ‚¬ν•©λ‹ˆλ‹€)
    And… γ…‚γ…‚ (bb) for bye-bye! ^^

    FYI, speaking of shortening, b (γ…‚) and s (γ……) is the most dangerous combination.
    γ…‚γ…… (becomes γ…„) and γ……γ…‚ is used to insulting. 병신 and μ”¨λ°œ respectively. :p
    Don’t use them since those are very rude. At least now you know when someone use that to you, he/she is pretty upset with you. πŸ™‚

  4. Eric says:

    Other ones:
    κΈ€μΏ λ‚˜ – κ·Έλ ‡κ΅¬λ‚˜
    일케 – μ΄λ ‡κ²Œ
    γ…œγ…œ – tears for sad face
    γ…‡γ…‡ – actually people use it alot but some girls take offense to it if you’re their boyfriend since they think you’re not paying enough attention to them.

  5. huy says:

    please post more korean slang!! I want to learn more haha~ It’s so funny πŸ˜€

  6. SG says:

    “λΉ„λ‘˜κΈ°” 잘λͺ» μΌλŠ”λ°…”

  7. Jenny says:

    I’m sorry I don’t have any to add but I want to say that your information is interesting haha
    And mostly any Korean info is interesting to me cuz I do not know anything really about Koreans puhaha

  8. Yong says:

    they use 울 to replace 우리 if i’m not mistaken. like 울였빠 instead of 우리 였빠. and i’ve also seen something like this: for example if the name is 힘찬, they use νž˜μ°¨λ…ΈλΉ  instead of 힘찬였빠. are these just typos bc they missed that one letter or are these really korean text slang? because i’m still learning and i don’t know mostly anything yet. XD

  9. Hello is there any one who wanna be my friend? πŸ™‚

  10. julie says:

    μ•ˆλ…•ν•˜μ„Έμš”~~~~
    I have a question!! I’m chatting with a korean girl on kakao talk-she’s in my ballett class :))
    and she wrote “μ›…μ›…” what does that means??? please help me. thank you ~~~

    • sharon says:

      μ›…μ›… is similar to 응응 which means yes or i agree. μ›…μ›… is just a cuter way of saying 응응

  11. jane says:

    Hello I wanna learn Korean language .
    What is this means

    How are you… Bb

  12. Titi says:

    λ§Œλ‚˜κΈ°λ‘œ ν–ˆμž–μ•„ . translates to ” you were supposed to meet HIM” NOT ” we were supposed to meet” the translation you used was wrong, I’m saying this because I looked at all the translations for this sentence they are the same plus one very important help is my friend who is korean native.

  13. JaneJLocane says:

    Thanks a lot!

  14. samibaceri says:

    That’s actually useful, thanks! I can say that not so long ago, I started to learn French with Lingopie besides Korean, and there are even more slang words and phrases that can be quite hard to understand. But I’m glad that it’s not a problem to find such useful forums to figure out such aspects and improve language skills.

  15. Greg Myles says:

    I was recently passing through Korea. I liked the language and I communicated with the help of a dictionary. But recently I was sent to Vietnam. And I needed a written translation of documents. Thanks to the link https://www.translate.com/vietnamese-english I found a translation agency and in a short time a huge amount of documents was translated for me. Glad to have used these services.

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