Looks like the 150-year-old dictionary just got a K-culture update.
The K-fever isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it is everywhere—from television to music, food to cosmetics. So impactful is South Korea’s soft power that it has found its way beyond pop culture. Even a trusted dictionary is not immune to the influence of K-culture.
In its December 2024 update, the Oxford English Dictionary added seven Korean words, per The Korea Herald. The new entries include “dalgona,” “hyung,” “noraebang,” “maknae,” “jjigae,” “tteokbokki,” and “pansori.” These recent additions reflect the enduring popularity of Korean culture that stretches beyond its borders, particularly in the English-speaking world.
In fact, this is not the first time Korean words have made it to the pages of the OED. In 2021, the dictionary added a whopping 26 Korean terms, including “K-drama,” “Hallyu,” “mukbang,” and “daebak.”
The addition of foreign words—not just Korean—as well as new words or those previously considered nonstandard or those with new meanings are proof of how a dictionary isn’t merely a purveyor of etymologies and definitions. It is, perhaps more importantly, a repository of history and culture. New entries, in particular, are a reflection of a specific era’s zeitgeist, as seen in the recent Word of the Year selections of popular dictionaries.
Related story: The Economist picks ‘kakistocracy’ as its 2024 Word of the Year
Related story: ‘Polarization’ is Merriam-Webster’s 2024 Word of the Year
Related story: ‘Demure,’ ‘manifest,’ ‘brat’: Internet-famous words make it to Word of the Year lists
Related story: What is ‘brain rot,’ Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2024?
Among this year’s seven new Korean terms in the Oxford English Dictionary is “dalgona.” Popularized by the phenomenal K-drama Squid Game, it is defined as “a Korean confection made by adding baking soda to melted sugar, typically sold by street vendors in the form of a flat disc with a simple shape such as a heart, star, etc., carved on its surface.”
“Hyung” refers to “a boy or man’s elder brother.” It’s also defined as a respectful form of address or term of endearment, and in extended use with reference to an older male friend. If you are a K-drama junkie, you wouldn’t need a dictionary to know what this word means.
A “noraebang” is a “private room which can be hired by a person or group to perform karaoke; an establishment featuring one or more of such rooms.” For us Filipinos, a noraebang is like a karaoke or KTV room that friends rent for a night of bad singing.
“Maknae,” meanwhile, is defined as “the youngest person in a family or group; (now) specifically, the youngest member of a K-pop group.” Jungkook, for instance, is the maknae of K-pop powerhouse BTS.
With the increasing popularity of K-food comes a host of Korean terms that relate to cooking. Among these is “jjigae,” which is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “any of various broth-based stews, typically made with seafood, meat, or vegetables.” It further explained that the word “jjigae” usually comes with a modifying word denoting the seasoning used or the principal ingredient, such as a doenjang jjigae or a kimchi jjigae.
Related story: REVIEW: ‘Squid Game 2’ shocks—but also drags and leaves viewers wanting more
Related story: In a time of AI and delulus, ‘authentic’ is Merriam-Webster’s 2023 Word of the Year
Related story: Oxford’s Word of the Year is ‘rizz.’ Here’s the year in words or a cultural snapshot of 2023
Related story: How to slay Gen Z Jargon 101
Another Korean food-related new entry in the Oxford English Dictionary—and one of my favorite K-food—is “tteokbokki.” Also made popular by K-dramas, it is a “Korean dish consisting of small, cylindrical rice cakes cooked in a spicy sauce made with gochujang, usually served as a snack often as street food),” per the OED.
Finally, there’s “pansori,” defined by the dictionary as a “traditional Korean narrative musical work performed by a single singer, accompanied by a drummer.” The K-drama Jyeongnyeon: The Star is Born on Disney+ (which I recommend!) is a good introduction to this musical genre.
First published in 1884, the Oxford English Dictionary is updated online every three months to capture the many ways the English language adapts to cultural influences, Korean being only one of many of them. In fact, there are also Filipino words that have been included in the dictionary, such as “balikbayan,” “barong tagalog,” “holdupper,” “salvage” (the Filipino usage that is), “bongga,” “dirty ice cream,” among several others.
According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, the Oxford English Dictionary is already considering more Korean words for future updates, including “haenyeo” (female divers of Jeju Island), “ajumma” (middle-aged women), and “bingsu” (shaved ice dessert).
Jieun Kiaer, a professor of Korean linguistics at the University of Oxford’s Asian and Middle Eastern Studies who is also the Korean language consultant for the dictionary, explained that words frequently used and discussed in English-speaking countries, with textual evidence, are included in the dictionary.
The inclusion of the words reflects the global spread of Korean culture, particularly through popular media and cuisine, she explained. “Korean-related words will be updated annually from now on,” she said, as quoted in the same article. “Korean food terms are expected to continue being added to the dictionary.”
Related story: Where your fave K-Pop idols and K-Drama stars escape on vacation
Related story: The Hallyu effect: 13 Korean stars taking over as luxury brand ambassadors
