Korean slang profile
ㅎㅎ
Gentle laughter in text
A Korean online expression representing laughter such as “haha.”
- Expanded form
- 하하Gentle laughter in text
- Other spellings
- —
- Earliest source found
- May 6, 2007
- 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
고마워요 ㅎㅎ
Thank you, haha.
- Quoted from a source
‘ㅎㅇ’(영어 ‘하이·hi’), ㅎㅎ(‘하하’ 등 웃음소리), ‘ㄱㅅ’(감사), ‘ㅇㅇ’(응), ‘헐’(‘어이없다’는 의미의 한숨), ‘ㅈㅅ’(죄송) 등이 많이 사용됐다.[1]
Common expressions included ㅎㅇ (hi), ㅎㅎ (laughter such as haha), ㄱㅅ (thanks), ㅇㅇ (yeah), 헐 (a sigh of disbelief), and ㅈㅅ (sorry).
English translation by Julimmal.
02Documented history
- May 2007Common expressions included ㅎㅇ (hi), ㅎㅎ (laughter such as haha), ㄱㅅ (thanks), ㅇㅇ (yeah), 헐 (a sigh of disbelief), and ㅈㅅ (sorry).[1]
- January 2011Korea Education Newspaper: “With the development of the Internet, an environment has been created where we can write as if we were speaking, and along with this, we usually show our smiles on the screen with ‘ㅎㅎ’ along with emoticons (^^).”[2]
03Origin & word formation
Short for “하하.” The 2007 source from Kyunghyang Shinmun explicitly gives this explanation. Who first used it and when have not been verified.
Evidence for the origin explanationMedium
One source explicitly explains the term. When it was first used is unknown.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- 장·노년 41％ “통신언어 절반도 몰라” (경향신문)Published May 6, 2007Original source checked Nov 5, 2026
- 우리말의 웃음 표현들 (한국교육신문)Published Jan 1, 2011Original source checked Nov 5, 2026