Korean slang profile

코로나 보릿고개

korona boritgogae

A comparison of business or livelihood difficulties caused by COVID-19 to the traditional spring hunger gap.

Expanded form: Not documented
Other spellings: —
Earliest source found: Dec 3, 2020
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
작은 가게들은 코로나 보릿고개를 함께 넘을 방법을 찾았다.
Small shops looked for ways to get through the COVID-19 hardship together.

02Documented history

December 2020영남일보 introduced it as a neologism observed from the early COVID-19 period.[1]
Time unconfirmedA Seoul city citizen-reporter article compared self-employed people’s COVID-19 livelihood difficulties to the spring hunger gap.[2]

03Origin & word formation

A citizen-reporter article on Seoul city’s 내 손안에 서울 explains the name as likening COVID-19 livelihood crises to the spring hunger gap. 영남일보 also lists it as a related neologism. The first user and exact time could not be established.

Evidence for the origin explanationMedium

The explanation likening it to difficulties making a living was checked directly. The Seoul city article lacked posting-date metadata, so its date was omitted; only the dated 영남일보 evidence was used for firstSeen.

04Sources

Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.

[우리말과 한국문학] 신조어를 통해 본 코로나 한국 (영남일보)Published Dec 3, 2020Original source checked Nov 13, 2026
코로나 보릿고개 이기는 마중물 자영업자 생존자금 (서울시 내 손안에 서울)Original source checked Nov 13, 2026