These Korean Words Made It to the English Dictionary, How Many Do You Know?

Fighting, samgyeopsal, oppa, and more made the list.

by Clara Rosales

Photo/s: Unsplash

More Korean words were officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary on Wednesday, underscoring K-Entertainment's influence on global pop culture and language.

Familiar terms like K-Drama and samgyeopsal, which Filipinos enjoy in unlimited servings, were included. Adding K- before words like pop and indie are also now official in combination form.

Korean food features prominently in this year's update, with six more entries alongside samgyeopsal; bulgogi, thin slices of marinated beef; galbi, beef short ribs; banchan, Korean side dishes; and japchae, clear noodles made from sweet potato starch, were added.

Dongchimi, a particular type of kimchi made from napa cabbage, radish, and chili swimming in a sweet-salty brine, earned its own entry. Kimbap, an assortment of vegetables and meat wrapped in a rice and seaweed combo, also made the list.

Honorifics for older family members or individuals like noona, oppa, and unni were added. Even K-Drama favorite "fighting!" is now officially a word in the English word.

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Some more words used colloquially in Korean content and in K-fandoms were also included. How many can you recognize?

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Here's the full list of Korean words added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2021:

aegyo, n. and adj.
banchan, n.
bulgogi, n.
chimaek, n.
daebak, n., int., and adj.
dongchimi, n.
fighting, int.
galbi, n.
hallyu, n.
hanbok, n.
japchae, n.
K-, comb. form
K-drama, n.
kimbap, n.
Konglish, n. and adj.
Korean wave, n. in Korean, adj. and n.
manhwa, n.
mukbang, n.
noona, n.
oppa, n.
PC bang, n.
samgyeopsal, n.
skinship, n.
tang soo do, n.
trot, n.
unni, n.

These words were revised in the September 2021 update:

gisaeng, n.
Hangul, n.
Juche, n.
kimchi, n.
Kono, n.
Korean, adj. and n.
K-pop, n.
sijo, n.
taekwondo, n.
won, n.
yangban, n.

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