Home ›› 07 Oct 2021 ›› Show Biz
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED), has included more than 20 new words of Korean origin to its latest edition, due to current rise of the Korean culture wave, reports The Guardian.
The success of South Korean exports to the United Kingdom has been ongoing for some time.
Rapper Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ from 2012, when he became the first South Korean pop star to reach the top of the UK singles chart. In the United Kingdom, the Oscar-winning film ‘Parasite’ is now the highest-grossing non-English language film. BTS, a Korean pop group, became the first Korean act to get a number one album in the UK, and they performed a special Live Lounge performance on Radio 1 this year.
The new words include hallyu - the Korean original for the wave of pop culture that has made BTS one of the world’s most popular bands and Squid Game the Netflix sensation of 2021.
“The increase in international interest in South Korea and its popular culture, esp. as represented by the global success of South Korean music, film, television, fashion, and food,” the dictionary says in its definition. “
Aegyo, a certain kind of cuteness or charm considered characteristically Korean, and similar to the Japanese word kawaii, has been included as both a noun and adjective. There is room, too, for mukbang, or livestreams of people eating extraordinary amounts of food while talking to the online audience.
The inclusion of “skinship” is more surprising. Commonly used in South Korea, where it is rendered as seukinsip, and Japan (sukinshippu) it captures the emotional bond that comes from close physical contact between a parent and child, lovers and friends, the dictionary said.
The OED said the inclusion of so many Korean words was recognition of a shift in language usage beyond the English-speaking world.
