Korean slang profile
메뚜기 인턴
mettugi inteon
An internship-hopping intern
A grasshopper metaphor for an intern who leaves midway or moves in search of a better internship.
- 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
취업 관련 기사에서 인턴 자리를 옮겨 다니는 메뚜기 인턴을 다뤘다.
The employment article covered 메뚜기 인턴 moving between internships.
02Documented history
- 2010The National Institute of Korean Language’s 2009 new-word collection lists the headword “메뚜기 인턴” 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 compares leaving midway or looking for a better internship to a grasshopper. 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