Korean slang profile
갈매기 아빠
galmaegi appa
A father living apart for schooling
A father who sends his family to Seoul for the children’s education, lives elsewhere, and visits them.
- Expanded form
- Not documented
- Other spellings
- —
- Earliest source found
- 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
가족을 서울로 보낸 뒤 갈매기 아빠로 지내는 이웃이 있다.
A neighbor lives as 갈매기 아빠 after sending the family to Seoul.
02Documented history
- 2010The National Institute of Korean Language’s 2009 new-word collection lists the headword “갈매기 아빠” and its definition.[1]
03Origin & word formation
This expression was checked in the National Institute of Korean Language’s 2009 new-word collection. The collection explains a metaphor for a father remaining outside Seoul apart from his family because of the children’s education. Who first used it and when have not been verified.
Evidence for the origin explanationMedium
The headword and definition in the 2010 collection were checked. The original re-quoted articles were not directly opened, so their dates were not used as firstSeen. The original coinage and path of spread remain unverified.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- 2009년 신어 자료집 (국립국어원·전주대학교 한국어문화원)Published 2010Original source checked Nov 14, 2026