Korean Texting Slang: What Koreans Actually Type

ㅋㅋ, ㅠㅠ, ㄱㅊ — the shorthand Koreans use in KakaoTalk every day.

Korean Texting Slang

Korean texting has its own language. Koreans compress words down to just the consonants — so 괜찮아 becomes ㄱㅊ, and 모르겠다 becomes ㅁㄹ. If you've ever tried to read Korean chat logs, these cards will be a revelation.

Tap a card to flip it to see what it means and how it's used.

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ㅋㅋ

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ㅋㅋ

haha / lol

💡 Korea's 'lol'. The more ㅋ's you add, the funnier something is — ㅋㅋㅋㅋ means you're actually laughing.

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How Korean Abbreviations Work

Most Korean slang abbreviations keep only the initial consonants of each syllable:

Full wordAbbreviationMeaning

괜찮아ㄱㅊit's fine

모르겠다ㅁㄹI don't know

오케이ㅇㅋokay

Some are just repeated sounds written as consonants:

크크크 (laughing) → ㅋㅋ
흐흐 (soft laugh) → ㅎㅎ
응응 (yes yes) → ㅇㅇ

Once you see the pattern, you can decode most Korean internet slang on your own.

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