SEOUL, Jan. 8 (UPI) — The Oxford English Dictionary has added eight words drawn from South Korean culture in its latest quarterly update, reflecting the continued influence of Korean food, customs and everyday life on global English usage.
In a press release issued Wednesday, Oxford Languages unveiled the newly added words, highlighting how Korean-language terms have entered English alongside the worldwide popularity of K-culture.
Among the additions are ajumma, a term commonly used to refer to a middle-aged or older woman; sunbae, meaning a senior colleague or mentor; jjimjilbang, a large communal bathhouse offering saunas, lounges and sleeping areas; and officetel, a blend of “office” and “hotel” describing mixed-use residential buildings common in South Korean cities.
Food-related entries include ramyeon, Korea’s version of instant noodles, and bingsu, a shaved-ice dessert topped with ingredients such as red beans, fruit or condensed milk.
The English phrase Korean barbecue was also added for the first time. While specific terms for grilled meat dishes such as samgyeopsal and galbi were already included in the dictionary, this year’s update marks the first formal appearance of the broader English term. Its earliest citation dates to a 1938 article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
Another new entry, haenyeo, refers to the traditional female free divers associated with Jeju Island, whose seafood-harvesting practices have drawn international attention for their cultural significance.
The update continues a recent pattern of Korean-origin words entering the dictionary. Seven Korean words were also added in 2025, following a larger group of 26 terms introduced in September 2021 amid a period of heightened global interest in Korean popular culture.
In an analysis cited by Oxford Languages, scholar Simon Barnes-Sadler examined how Korean-origin words have entered the dictionary in relation to the rise of hallyu, or the Korean Wave.
“While words of Korean origin have been attested in English texts stretching back to the nineteenth century, a large number of such words have been added since 1997, the year to which the beginning of the Korean Wave is conventionally attributed,” Barnes-Sadler wrote.
He added that many Korean-origin words still occur relatively infrequently in the English-language sources tracked by the OED, raising questions about how quickly their emergence will translate into sustained everyday usage.
First published in 1884, the Oxford English Dictionary is widely regarded as the authoritative record of the English language. It contains more than 500,000 words and phrases from past and present English usage and traces their development through millions of quotations drawn from books, academic sources, news reports and social media.