There is a category of words in Korean called "Konglish". That is, they are English words, but with completely different meanings in Korean. Today, we'll chat through some of them and what they mean!

The word that sparked the idea for this post is 스킨십 (skinship), which refers to physical affection like holding hands or hugging. You'll frequently hear this in K-dramas when they're talking about if they held hands yet or something. It's often the biggest buildup of the show: the first 스킨십. 😍

Let's get started!

Old words, new meaning

Righto, there are some subcategories here as well:

1. Phrases created from English words
2. English words with more specific meaning
3. English words with completely different meaning
4. Shortened English words
5. Blended English words

화이팅! (Another Konglish word)

Phrases created from English words

Like, 스킨십, there are other words created from English words but we don't really use them in English itself. 

아이쇼핑 (eye shopping) = window shopping in English

핸드폰(hand phone) = cell phone

백미러 (back mirror) =  rear-view mirror

Quick pronunciation tip! 🗣️

So, there are tons of 받침 rules, but as you speak the language more and more, it starts to come naturally. Here, the ㄱ followed by the ㅁ, makes the ㄱ sounds like ㅇ. That is, it would be pronounced like:

뱅미러

Some other examples to try out are:

• 백만원 = 100 10,000 Korean Won (1,000,000 Won)
• 국물 = soup water (i.e., the broth)

So, say you and your friends just want to go to 강남 to do some window shopping, you could say:

"강남에 아이쇼핑 가자!"

Words with more specific or narrower meaning

The English word exists, but its use in Korean is much more specific than in English.

원피스 (one piece) = a dress, not a swimsuit or a baby's outfit

노트북(notebook) = laptop

서비스(service) = freebie given by a business

미팅(meeting) = group blind date

글래머(glamor) = a curvaceous woman

핸들(handle) = steering wheel

10 days. All the Konglish. (Okay, well, a lot of it)

We just scratched the surface of Konglish today, but there are a ton more words out there with wild new meanings in Korea. If you had fun with words like 아이쇼핑 and 서비스, you're going to love what's next.

The best way to learn a language is to practice it daily. Ready for a deeper dive? Our Konglish Pack is for you!

You'll get:

• 5 new words each day to play with

• Personalized feedback on your answers

• Anki deck with all of the words

📣 Buy the Konglish Pack 🗣️

Back to the words!

Words with totally different meanings

오바이트 (overeat) = to vomit

사인(sign)= autograph​

샤프(sharp) = mechanical pencil

콘센트 (consent) = electrical outlet

Little bit of history

You might be like me and be curious why "consent" refers to an electrical outlet. Turns out that it likely comes from Japanese "konsento" during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea, which itself comes from the word "concentric plug".

These were outlets that were popular in Britain at the time and brought to Japan sometime during the Meji period (1868-1912) in Japan.

From the Museum of Plugs and Sockets

Shortened English words

리모컨 = remote control

에어컨 = air conditioner

아파트 = apartment (We also made a whole post about the song Apt. by Rosé and Bruno Mars here 😉)

헬스= health club

매직 = magic marker

For instance, say you were checking out a new apartment to live, the 부동산 (realtor) might say something like:

"이 아파트에는 좋은 헬스 클럽이 있고, 각 방마다 에어컨이 있어요."

Blended English words

셀카= A blend of "self" and "camera", meaning "selfie"

오피스텔 = A portmanteau of "office" and "hotel", very common in Korea since it can be used for either commercial or residential purposes

Want to learn more Korean? Give Daily Tokki a try — we'll give you personalized feedback on your answer to a new question every day.