oppa

Oppa is Korean for “older brother,” used by girls and women. In K-pop fandom it’s also what fans call a male idol they adore, and in Korea it can mean a boyfriend.

What oppa means

In Korean, oppa (오빠) is how a female speaker addresses an older brother. Like many Korean family words, it stretches beyond family: Dictionary.com defines it as an older brother or male friend, a boyfriend, or a celebrity, used by a woman with respect, affection or admiration. Who says it matters. A man calls his older brother hyung, not oppa.

In international K-pop fandom, oppa usually means a male idol a fan looks up to, often her bias. Wiktionary records that sense too. Strictly speaking, the word only works for someone older than you, so calling a younger idol oppa is a mistake in Korean.

Examples

• “My oppa has a new album out and I’ve already streamed it twelve times.”
• “She calls her boyfriend oppa even though he’s only a year older.”
• “Oppa, wait for me!” (a younger sister, in a K-drama)

Where it came from

It’s a borrowing of Korean 오빠. The word reached a huge English-speaking audience in 2012 through Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” whose refrain “Oppan Gangnam style” is usually translated as “big brother is Gangnam style,” with Psy talking about himself. K-dramas and K-pop fandom did the rest.

The romantic sense is common enough in South Korea that it even came up in North Korea: the BBC reported in 2021 that North Korea was trying to stamp out South Korean slang, including women calling their husbands oppa.

Related terms

• Noona: older sister, said by a man.
• Unnie: older sister, said by a woman.
• Hyung: older brother, said by a man.
• Bias: your favorite member of a group.

See more terms like this in our K-pop slang guide.