hallyu
Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, is the worldwide boom in South Korean pop culture: K-pop, K-dramas, Korean films, beauty products and food.
What hallyu means
Wikipedia defines the Korean Wave, or hallyu, as the rise in global interest in South Korean popular culture since the 1990s, led by K-pop, K-dramas, K-beauty, K-food and film. Its landmark successes include groups like BTS and Blackpink, the Oscar-winning film Parasite and the Netflix series Squid Game.
People use it as a label for the whole phenomenon, as in “the hallyu era.” It’s more of a culture and media word than everyday slang, but it comes up constantly in K-pop and K-drama fandom.
Examples
- “Hallyu is the reason my local supermarket now sells kimchi and tteokbokki.”
- “The documentary is about how hallyu turned K-pop into a global industry.”
- “She got into hallyu through K-dramas before K-pop.”
Where it came from
Hallyu combines Korean han (Korean) and ryu (flow, wave or trend). According to Wikipedia, Chinese journalists coined “Korean Wave” in 1999 to describe the growing popularity of South Korean culture in China. The first wave was mostly K-dramas and films across Asia; the second, sometimes called hallyu 2.0, was driven by K-pop on YouTube. Both “hallyu” and “Korean Wave” were added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2021.
Related terms
See more terms like this in our K-pop slang guide.
Example sentence
The hallyu boom has made Seoul one of the most popular places for young travelers.
Similar words
Korean Wave
Notes
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