Korean slang profile
청무구사
cheongmugusa
An abbreviation sarcastically suggesting buying an older home rather than expecting to win a housing subscription allocation, reflecting the difficulty of winning.
An abbreviation sarcastically suggesting buying an older home rather than expecting to win a housing subscription allocation, reflecting the difficulty of winning.
- Expanded form
- 청약은 무슨, 구축 사청약은 무슨, 구축 사 (forget housing subscriptions, buy an older home)
- Other spellings
- —
- Earliest source found
- Jul 22, 2021
- 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
청약에 계속 떨어지니 청무구사라는 말이 떠올라.
After repeatedly failing to win a housing allocation, 청무구사 came to mind.
02Documented history
- July 2021서울경제 introduced 청무구사 as mocking the difficulty of winning housing subscriptions and explained 구축 as an older home.[1]
03Origin & word formation
Short for ‘청약은 무슨, 구축 사’ (forget housing subscriptions, buy an older home). A 2021 source from 서울경제 gives this explanation. Who first used it and when could not be established.
Evidence for the origin explanationMedium
One source explicitly gives this explanation. When it was first used is unknown.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- [신조어 사전] 청무구사 (서울경제)Published Jul 22, 2021Original source checked Nov 13, 2026