Korean slang profile
차도남
chadonam
A man with a cool, urban impression.
A man with a cool, urban impression.
- Expanded form
- 차가운 도시 남자차가운 도시 남자 (a cold urban man)
- Other spellings
- —
- Earliest source found
- Nov 9, 2010
- 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
무표정한 차도남 역할인데 가끔 다정한 모습도 보여.
He plays a 차도남 with an impassive face, but sometimes shows a caring side.
02Documented history
- November 9, 2010The National Institute of Korean Language’s “2010년 신어 자료집” included the expression and its definition in the new-word section.[1]
03Origin & word formation
The National Institute of Korean Language’s “2010년 신어 자료집” directly defines the expression in its new-word section. It gives its components as “차가운 도시 남자”. Who first used it and when have not been verified.
Evidence for the origin explanationMedium
The entry and definition in one collection were directly checked. The older articles cited in the collection were not separately checked, so their dates were not used as the earliest verified date.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- 2010년 신어 자료집 — PDF 56쪽 (국립국어원)Published Nov 9, 2010Original source checked Nov 14, 2026