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From tteokbokki to jjigae, Oxford English Dictionary spices up its entries with seven more Korean words

Published: 07 Jan. 2025, 11:26 Updated: 07 Jan. 2025, 18:33

LEE JIAN
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A child from the Philippines makes dalgona in Seongbuk district, northern Seoul, on May 21, 2024. [YONHAP]

The Oxford English Dictionary has added seven Korean words to its lexicon.

The updates, made in December last year, include noraebang (karaoke), tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), dalgona (melted sugar confection), jjigae (stew), hyung (a term used by a male to refer to an older male), maknae (the youngest member of a group) and pansori (a traditional narrative music genre performed by a singer and a drummer).

Dalgona is one of seven Korean words that have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in December 2024 [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The last addition of Korean words to the Oxford English Dictionary was in 2021, when 26 terms, including K-drama, Hallyu, mukbang and daebak, were incorporated.

"The dictionary contains words that are commonly used, referred to, or discussed in the English-speaking world and for which there is textual evidence," Jieun Kiaer from Oxford's Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies told local news outlet Yonhap on Tuesday. "Through K-pop and K-dramas, English-speaking people are exposed to and use a lot of words from Korea."

People in Paris during the Paris 2024 Olympics eat tteokbokki at a K-culture complex set up by the Korean government on July 28, 2024. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The words haenyeo (female divers), ajumma (an affectionate term for married or middle-aged women) and bingsu (shaved-ice dessert) are being considered for inclusion in the dictionary's 2026 edition.

The Oxford English Dictionary, founded in 1884, updates its entries every three months.

BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]