We hope this Korean emoticon list helps you all out a lot. These emoticons are used frequently among friends and family in text messages. However recently, Kakaotalk has taken over with their popular emoticons (like Ryan and A-Peach…the one that looks like a butt)
The abbreviations can also be considered slang and more like these (shortened words) are being created by the younger generation frequently).
Hope this helps! And for more materials to supplement your Korean vocab, check out our ebooks over at the Dom & Hyo Store. We also have posters, t-shirts, and more related to Korea.
List of Emoticons & Abbreviations used in this graphic:
^^ ^_^ ^0^ = Happy
^_~ = Winking
-_- – – = Serious
ㅜㅜ ㅠㅠ ㅠ_ㅠ = Crying
^^; ^_^; = Sweating
+_+ = Surprised
@_@ = Confused
ㅗ = Middle finger
OTL = Disappointment (looks like someone with their head down on their knees)
=_= = Sleepiness
~_~ = Boredom
-_-a = Scratching head
0ㅠ0 = Vomiting
*^^* = Blushing
^3^ = Kissing
(>.<) >_< = Embarassed
ㅇㅇ = 응 (Yes/Agreement)
ㅇㅋ = 오케이 (OK in English)
ㄷㅊ = 닥쳐 (Shutup/Shut your trap)
ㅊㅋ = 축아해요 (Congratulations)
ㄱㅅ = 감사합니다 (Thank you)
ㅎㅎ = 하하 (Laughing)
샘 = 선생님 (Teacher)
ㅂㅂ = bye bye
ㄴㄴ = no no
ㅅㄱ = 수고하세요 (Keep up the good work)
방가 = 방가워요 (Nice to meet you)
ㄷㄷ = 덜덜 (Shivering)
ㅎㅇ = 하이 (“Hi” in Konglish)
쩐다 = Awesome/Terrible (Kind of like “damn!” but not too bad)
짐 = 지금 (Now)
어케 = 어떻게 (How)
Remember that romanization is only a tool! Try not to depend on it too much and try learning the Korean alphabet and how to pronounce the letters properly to have an easier time learning Korean.
I love this. My Korean students will cheer, and the rest will go “Whu?”
This is awesome!!
Thanks!
Nice infographic. I have always wanted a key to those Korean emoticons.
Thanks! Glad it could help you out 🙂
that is dam amazingly useful and great graphics work too 😉 thanks
Thanks sir 🙂
Where is ‘ㅆㅂ’?
Lol I thought about adding it among other swear words but decided to keep this one fairly clean.
So what does it mean :D???
fuck
*반가워요
Thank you for pointing that out!
i hope no one uses blushing one. lol Some others are weird to use for me. But that blushing one… no… I am Korean. we used that like 15years ago. I use that one in a sarcastic way now.
Anyway nice blog 🙂
haha I didn’t know the blushing one was that old. And thanks, glad you like it^^
ㄱ ㅅ. ㅇ ㅗㅇ
ㅇ ㅗㅇ is a new one for me. What does it mean?
ㅇ ㅇ are eyes. ㅣ is nose and ㅡ is mouth as i know. 🙂
just cute sign….
Claire J. Kim’s reply is very well..
우와! 잘 만들었어요!!
Thanks Seokjin!
I saw this yesterday and thought it was brilliant. I’ve always wanted a table to understand what Korean chingus were texting and not having one was frustrating. Wanted to share it on my FB page,.. unfortunately in light of the recent Drama Fever scandal and misuse of your art, … I have to post it to my page in a less than bubbly tone. … People only steal from the best, I guess.
Thankfully it’s all resolved now. Anyways, hopefully you can surprise your Korean friends by using some of these 🙂
thank you so much
No prob!
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
┬─┬ノ( º _ ºノ
Cooool I will share it with my foreign friends :3
otl.. I barely know how to use it. otl -ㅅ-
Where is the basic of the basics : ㅋㅋㅋ ?
Good job ^^
Thanks! It can be found under “Variations” 🙂
Oh right !! My bad ! It’s very small and I expected it to be larger as it’s the abbreviation I use the most ㅋㅋㅋ
where is 대박? ㅋㅋㅋㅋthis word is the most often one that I use all the time 🙂
대박 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
wait 샘 and ㅂㅂ are not real things…. lol its 쌤 and ㅃㅃ 뭐지;;