Loving Korean

Korean emoticons can make chatting and texting with your Korean friends a lot more fun and genuine. Also called Korean smileys, they are similar to other East Asian emoticons, with the exception that Korean emoticons use Hangul letters like ㅂ, ㅇ, and ㅅ.

Below you can find Korean emoticons list with translations.

The cute picture emoticons, also known as stickers, all belong to Daum and come from now defunct app MyPeople which Daum deprecated when they merged with Kakao. Now most Korean people use free Korean app KakaoTalk.

Copy-paste list of Korean text emoticons (such as this one ㅠ.ㅠ) as well as their meaning is at the bottom of this post. I collected them from various Korean chatting apps as well as Kimchi Man‘s experience. He was also kind enough to translate and give explanations for them.

Korean picture emoticons:

Love emoticons

Emoticon	Hangul	Translation
	사랑해	I love you (Korean)
	알라뷰	I love you (Konglish)
	오빠야~	Oppaaa
	보고파	I miss you (said in a cute way)
	뽀뽀 해줘~	Kiss meee
	난 너의 노예	I’m your slave
	넌 나의 노예	You’re my slave
	따랑해	I love you (said in a cute way)
	우리 왕자님	My prince
	우리 공주님	My princess

Greeting emoticons

Emoticon	Hangul	Translation
	좋은 하루~	Good daaay
	긋모닝	Good morning (Konglish)
	똑똑	Knock knock
	잘자~	Sleep tiiiight

Cute emoticons

Emoticon	Hangul	Translation
	완전 이뻐	Totally pretty
	부끄 부끄	Shy
	내꺼~	Mineee
	초쿌릿 주세용	Give me a chocolate (said in a cute way)
	이쁜짓	(Reaction to someone doing cute stuff)
	샤방	dazzling
	나 이거 사줘	Buy me that
	소심	Prudent. Cautious.
	궁디 팡팡	Spank

Thanking and apologizing emoticons

Emoticon	Hangul	Translation
	화풀어	Take it easy. Don’t be mad.
	미안 미안	Sorry, sorry.
	너의 죄를 사하노라	I forgive your sin
	쌩유	Thank you (Konglish)

Laughing and crying emoticons

Emoticon	Hangul	Translation
	ㅎㅎㅎ	Hehehe
	ㅋㅋㅋ	LOL
	엄마야	Mommy (when you get scared)
	엉엉	Boohoo

Affirmative emoticons

 

	ㅇㅇ	Yes. (Short for 응)
	오키	Okay. (Konglish
	파이팅	Good luck (Lit. fighting; Konglish)
	토닥 토닥	There there (comforting someone)
	앗 싸!	Yay!
	참 잘했어요	Good work! (school stamp)
	대박!	Jackpot!
	축하해	Congratulations

Complaining and angry emoticons

Emoticon	Hangul	Translation
	배고파 (꼬르륵)	Hungry (stomach growling)
	인생 뭐 있나…	There’s nothing special in life…
	피곤해	I’m tired
	졸려	Sleepy
	나른 나른	Drowsy. Sluggish.
	개 피곤	So tired
	흥!	Psh!
	짱나!	I’m annoyed!
	고마 해라	That’s enough. Stop.
	아오~ 진짜!	Why, you little… !
	이게 자네 최선인가	Is this the best you can do
	싫은데?	Nah, don’t feel like it.
	뭐래?	What are you saying? (I know what you are saying but I don’t care)

Common Korean expressions emoticons

Emoticon	Hangul	Translation
	어디야?	Where are you?
	뭐하삼?	What are you doing?
	콜미	Call meee
	대답해!	Answer me!
	놀아줘~	(Please) Hang out with me
	밥먹자!	Let’s eat!
	영화한판 고고!	Let’s watch a movie!
	시러	No, I don’t want to.
	뭥미?	What the heck is that?
	헉!	OMG!

Korean text emoticons

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Korean text emoticons are usually standing upright, unlike their western counterparts which lie on their sides. They are usually more complex and use larger number of special characters.

In a very interesting book I am reading right now “The Routledge Course in Korean Translation” there is an explanation of some subtle differences between Korean and Western emoticons. For example, even though both ^^ and :) show a smiling face, Korean version has a subtle nuance of “please understand”. In the same way ㅠ.ㅠ and  :_( both represent a crying face but Korean version is also a bit apologetic.

Most importantly, the focus of expression in Koreans emotions is on the eyes rather than the mouth. To see this, compare Korean emoticon for smiley face on the left with the Western emoticon on the right

	(^_^)	:-)
character used for the eyes	^	:
character used for the mouth	_	)

Also, Hangul letters are often used.

Korean text emoticons list:

Symbol	Explanation	Example
ㅇ, ㅎ, ㅍ, ㅡ	Eyes (Hangul).	ㅎ_ㅎ	(ㅇ_ㅇ)	ㅡ_ㅡ	ㅎ.ㅎ
^	Smiling eyes.	^^	^_^	(^_^)
ㅠ, ㅜ	Crying eyes (Hangul).	ㅠ.ㅠ	ㅠ_ㅠ	ㅠㅠ	ㅜㅜ
><	Eyes.	>.<
ㅂ,ㅁ,ㅅ,ㅇ	Nose or mouth (Hangul).	^ㅂ^	ㅡㅅㅡ	^ㅇ^
*	Blushing, embarrasement.	^^*		*^_^*
;	Drops of sweat. Embarrassed, awkward, nervous.	^^;	(^_^;;;)
ㅋ or ㅎ	Imitatating sound of laughter (Hangul). The more of them you string in a row, the more you are laughing.	ㅋㅋㅋ	크크	ㅎㅎㅎ	히히
ㅇㅋ	OK
ㅎㄷㄷ	Shaking with fear. Short for 후덜덜.
~	Wink.	^~	(^_~)
~	Adding this symbol, called tilde, means you are stretching out your speech. It makes what you are saying nicer or cuter.
@	Confused.	@.@	(@_@)
•,⊙,∑	Special characters. Note: Select Hangul character and press right CTRL.	(•¯ ∀ ¯•)		⊙∑⊙	@( ∙ • ∙ )@

To use these you will need to set up Korean keyboard on your device, and I recommend you learn touch typing Korean, that is typing using all ten fingers without looking at keyboard. It’s much easier than it sounds.

The combinations you can create are endless now that you know the basic elements that make up Korean emoticons. As other Asian emoticons Korean ones are really cute, don’t you think?

 

 

See more in this series of posts:

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Long distance relationship advice	How to send mail to Korea
Free text and call Korean apps