Korean slang profile
먹튀
meoktwi
Taking the benefit and disappearing
Leaving without paying for food. It also describes taking a benefit and disappearing without accepting responsibility.
- Expanded form
- 먹고 튀다Taking the benefit and disappearing
- Other spellings
- —
- Earliest source found
- Jan 5, 2013
- 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
그 가게 먹튀 사건으로 뉴스에 나왔대.
Apparently that restaurant made the news over a dine-and-dash incident.
- Quoted from a source
‘먹튀(먹고 튀다)’ 논란에 휩싸였던[1]
Caught up in a controversy over taking the benefit and disappearing
English translation by Julimmal.
02Documented history
- January 2013Dong-A IT reported that a mobile communication seller was embroiled in the ‘먹튀’ controversy due to controversy over non-payment of cash subsidies.[1]
03Origin & word formation
Short for 먹고 튀다, meaning to eat and run away. A 2013 IT Donga article gives both forms together. It does not establish that the expression originated in leaving a restaurant without paying.
Evidence for the origin explanationMedium
The expansion as 먹고 튀다 is explicit. The source does not establish that the expression began in restaurants.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- "우리가 '먹튀'라고? 말도 안되는 소리", 거성모바일 반박 나서 (IT동아)Published Jan 5, 2013Original source checked Nov 5, 2026