섹끈하다
[soek-ggeun-ha-da]
foxy and fabulous; tight; shit hot; slammin’
Meaning & context
글자 그대로 해석하면, 끈끈한 섹시. 섹시함을 뜻하는 섹이라는 첫 글자와 끈끈함으로부터 온 끈이라는 글자가 합쳐져 대단히 좋음, 훌륭함을 의미하게 되었다. 보통 자동차 등 멋진 물건을 표현할 때 쓰이지만 여성에게 쓰이면 부정적인 의미를 가질 수도 있다.
Literally “to be tenaciously sexy.” Beginning with soek (섹) for sexy and ending with ggeun (끈) for tenacity, this expression is used to describe someone or something as cool or fabulous. Usually used for a car or other item, but when referring to a woman it would have the connotation of “slutty.” Also spelled sae-ggeun-ha-ta (새끈하다).
From As Much as a Rat’s Tail · book pages 148–149. Original published text; historical references and usage are retained.
STORY TIME
See it in conversation
Korean
완전 죽인다!
English
So cool!
한국어로 ‘cool’은 어떻게 얘기해?
How do you say ‘cool’ in Korean?
음, ‘대단하다.’
Um, ‘taedanhada.’
아니, 아니. 그건 너무 식상해. 그것보다 더 재밌는 표현들 많잖아... 영어로 한다면, fresh, phat, off the hook, the bomb, slammin,’ hot, badass, the shit, 뭐 이런거.
No, no. That’s too dull. It’s got to be more interesting than that. . . In English, there’s fresh, phat, off the hook, the bomb, slammin’, hot, badass, the shit, etc.
많지. 어... 좋다, 멋있다, 간지난다, 죽인다...
There’s so many. Uh. . . ‘chota, moshita, ganjinanda, chuginda. . .’
아니 그것도 말고, 내가 뭔가를 멋지고 아름답고 섹시하다고 한번에 말하고 싶을 때는 뭐라고하면 되냐고.
No, I want to say that something’s cool and beautiful and sexy all at the same time.
아, 그건 쉽지. 그냥 섹끈하다고 말해.
Oh, that’s easy? Just say it’s soekggeunhada.
From the book: notes & culture
A Look at ‘Looks’
To a guy
Handsome (멋있다)
•미남 [mi-nam] beautiful man
•훈남[hun-nam] heartwarming man
•완소남[wueon-so-nam] perfectly precious man
•꽃미남[ggot-mi-nam] flower beautiful man
•킹카[king-ka] king hot in a group/school/class Ugly (추한)
•추남[chu-nam] homely guy
To a girl
Pretty (예쁘다)
•미녀[mi-nyeo] beautiful woman
•훈녀[hun-nyeo] heart-warming woman
•완소녀[wueon-so-nyeo] perfectly precious woman
•꽃미녀[ggot-mi-nyeo] flower-beautiful woman
•퀸카 [kueen-ka] queen hot in one’s group, school or class
•베이글녀 [bae-i-geul-nyeo] bagel girl – a glamorous, baby-faced girl Ugly (소박해 보이는)
•추녀[chu-nyeo] homely girl
To either
Good looking (잘 생긴)
•섹시 [saek-si] sexy
•섹끈 [saek-ggeun] cool
•몸짱 [moem-jjang] rockin’ body
•얼짱 [eol-jjang] flawless face
•죽인다 [juk-in-da] to die for
•착하다 [chak-ha-da] in great shape
•볼매 [bol-mae] get better over time, grow on someone Ugly (추한못 생긴)
•못난이 [mot-nan-i] just didn’t come out well
•얼꽝 [eol-ggwang] a ‘nada’ face
•폭탄 [pok-tan] a bomb or a grenade – not to be confused with the American “the bomb,” which means the opposite and closer to the expression “Falling on a grenade.”
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