Korean slang profile
헐
heol
Whoa or seriously?
An exclamation used when someone is surprised or finds something hard to believe.
- Expanded form
- Not documented
- 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
헐, 벌써 시간이 이렇게 됐어?
Whoa, is it that late already?
- Quoted from a source
`헐'(`어이없다'는 의미의 한숨소리)[2]
`헐' (a sigh meaning `absurd')
English translation by Julimmal.
02Documented history
- May 2007Yonhap News, which delivered a report from the Korea Information Agency, introduced ‘헐’ as a ‘sigh of absurdity’ as an expression of the ranking of youth communication languages.[2]
- August 2012The Kyunghyang Shinmun cited a scene from the movie ‘Eungyo’ and introduced the exclamation ‘헐’ as an honest expression of the younger generation. This is a scene in the movie where a character asks what ‘헐’ means.[1]
03Origin & word formation
A 2007 Yonhap News article describes it as a sigh expressing disbelief. It appears to be a sound-based interjection, but how it arose has not been verified.
Evidence for the origin explanationMedium
The source explicitly explains it as a sigh, but does not investigate the word's origin itself.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- 감탄사 ‘헐’에 녹아든 젊은 예술가들의 솔직 발칙함 (경향신문)Published Aug 20, 2012Original source checked Nov 5, 2026
- 통신언어, 우리말이야? 외국어야? (연합뉴스)Published May 6, 2007Original source checked Nov 5, 2026