Korean slang profile
ㄷㄷ
Shaking with fear or surprise
A consonant abbreviation of 덜덜, representing trembling from fear, surprise, or nervousness.
- Expanded form
- 덜덜Shaking with fear or surprise
- 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
시험 결과 나온대. ㄷㄷ
The exam results are about to come out. I'm shaking.
02Documented history
- 2011The National Institute of the Korean Language’s report on the ‘National Survey on Youth Language Status and Language Awareness’ cited ㄷㄷ as an example of the consonant notation of popular words.[1]
03Origin & word formation
Commonly explained as the initial consonants of 덜덜, representing trembling. 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 덜덜 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