Badass Korean — As Much as a Rat’s Tail

일잠

[il-jam]

turn in early

Meaning & context

일잠은 두 개의 머리글자로 된 말로서, 일찍 잠자다에서 생겨났다. ‘늦게까지 잠자다’를 의 미하는 늦잠이라는 반대 말로부터 생겨난 신조어이다.

Iljam is an acronym and comes from iljjik jamjada (일찍잠자다), “to go to sleep early.” It was coined, in response to its opposite, neutjam (늦잠), meaning to sleep late or sleep in.

From As Much as a Rat’s Tail · book pages 171–171. Original published text; historical references and usage are retained.

STORY TIME

See it in conversation

Korean

이른 새...

English

The Early Bird. . .

Kaeul

자기야, 나 내일까지 자고싶어.

가을

Honey, I want to sleep in tomorrow. . .

Bom

우리 일잠중이니까, 그럴 필요 없어.

봄

But since we are doing iljam, we don’t have to.

Kaeul

일잠... 일잠이 뭔데?

가을

Iljam. . . What is iljam?

Bom

늦잠의 반대.

봄

The opposite of neutjam (sleeping in).

Kaeul

단어 좀 그만 만들어!!

가을

Stop making up words!!

As Much as a Rat’s Tail

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