Korean slang profile
명태족
myeongtaejok
People taking voluntary early retirement
A term formerly used for people who took voluntary early retirement.
- Expanded form
- 명예퇴직 + 족voluntary early retirement + group of people
- Other spellings
- —
- Earliest source found
- 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
당시 기사에는 명예퇴직자를 가리키는 명태족이라는 말이 등장한다.
An article of the time uses 명태족 to refer to people taking voluntary early retirement.
02Documented history
- 2007The National Institute of Korean Language’s weekly new-word survey material introduced the spelling and meaning of “명태족”.[1]
03Origin & word formation
It shortens 명예퇴직 to the similar-sounding 명태 and adds 족. This explanation was checked in the National Institute of Korean Language’s 2007 weekly new-word survey material. Who first used it and when have not been verified.
Evidence for the origin explanationHigh
The explanation and components in the body of the weekly material were directly compared. The original older articles re-quoted there and first use were not separately verified, and the date was recorded only to the precision of the verified source’s publication year.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- 신어 조사 결과 (2007년 8월 4주) (국립국어원·국회도서관 보존본)Published 2007Original source checked Nov 14, 2026