Korean slang profile
걸바
geolba
A “walking Barbie doll”
A woman with an appearance striking enough to resemble a Barbie doll.
- Expanded form
- 걸어 다니는 바비 인형걸어 다니는 바비 인형 (a walking Barbie doll)
- 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
친구들은 화보 속 모델을 걸바라고 불렀다.
My friends called the model in the photo shoot 걸바.
02Documented history
- 2010The National Institute of Korean Language’s 2009 new-word collection lists the headword “걸바” 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 also gives the explanation 걸어 다니는 바비 인형, a walking Barbie doll, in the article it quotes. Who first used it and when have not been verified.
Evidence for the origin explanationHigh
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