Korean slang profile
ㄴㄴ
No, no
A casual way to say no or express reluctance, using the initial consonants of 노노, a Korean rendering of “no no.”
- Expanded form
- 노노(no no)No, no
- Other spellings
- —
- Earliest source found
- 2011
- Documented trend period
- Not verified
This is the earliest source we have verified, not the date the term was coined.
01Examples, with English translations
- Example by Julimmal
그건 좀 ㄴㄴ.
That's a bit of a no.
02Documented history
- 2011The National Institute of the Korean Language’s ‘National Survey on Youth Language Status and Language Awareness’ report cited ㅋ, ㅎ, ㅂㅇ, ㄴㄴ, ㄷㄷ, and ㅊㅋ as examples of consonant notation of popular words.[1]
03Origin & word formation
Commonly explained as the initial consonants of 노노, a Korean rendering of “no no.” However, the supporting report lists examples without explaining the expansion.
Evidence for the origin explanationLow
No source directly explaining it as the initial consonants of 노노 has been verified. Only examples of usage have been confirmed.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- 청소년 언어실태·언어의식 전국 조사 (국립국어원·한양대학교 산학협력단)Published 2011Original source checked Nov 5, 2026