썸 — The Korean Pre-Dating Phase

썸 타기

Textbook우리는 서로 관심이 있습니다u-ri-neun seo-ro gwan-sim-i it-seum-ni-daWe are interested in each other

Real우리 지금 썸 타는 거 아니야?u-ri ji-geum sseom ta-neun geo a-ni-ya?Aren't we in the 'some' stage right now?🏷️ Close friends

썸 (from English 'something') is THE word for the ambiguous pre-dating phase. 썸 타다 = riding the some. It's exciting, confusing, and uniquely Korean.

썸 vocabulary

썸남Some-guy (the guy you're in 썸 with)

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썸녀Some-girl (the girl you're in 썸 with)

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밀당Push-pull (playing hard to get)

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읽씹Leaving on read (a major 썸 crime)

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카톡 프사KakaoTalk profile pic (they check if you change it)

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우리 뭐야?What are we? (the question that ends 썸)

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썸 signals (weak → strong)

카톡에 먼저 연락 (texts first on KakaoTalk)이모티콘 많이 보냄 (sends lots of emoticons)새벽에 연락 (texts late at night)하루종일 카톡 (texts all day)다음에 같이 밥 먹자 — 그리고 실제로 약속 잡음 ('let's eat together' + actually makes plans)커플 이모지 사용 (uses couple emojis)

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In Korea, the 썸 stage is analyzed endlessly with friends. Every text message, every emoji, every reply speed is decoded. If your 썸남/썸녀 replies in 1 second = very interested. 3 hours later = you might be getting 읽씹-ed.

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