Korean slang profile
산소학번
sansohakbeon
The 2002 university-entry cohort
A nickname for the entry year of students who began university in 2002.
- Expanded form
- 산소 + 학번산소 (oxygen) + 학번 (university entry year)
- Other spellings
- 월드컵학번
- Earliest source found
- Dec 30, 2002
- 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
2002년 입학생들은 자신들을 산소학번이라고 부르기도 했다.
Some 2002 entrants called themselves 산소학번.
02Documented history
- 2002The 국립국어연구원’s 『2002년 신어』 introduced the spelling and meaning of “산소학번”.[1]
03Origin & word formation
Named because the entry-year digits 02 resemble oxygen’s O₂. The source also calls that year’s entrants 월드컵 학번, the World Cup entry cohort. This explanation was checked in the 국립국어연구원’s 『2002년 신어』. Who first used it and when have not been verified.
Evidence for the origin explanationMedium
The headword, definition, and components were directly compared. The original older articles re-quoted by the source were not separately opened; the date recorded is the publication date directly checked on the collection’s copyright page.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- 2002년 신어 — 2002년 신어, 35쪽 (국립국어연구원)Published Dec 30, 2002Original source checked Nov 14, 2026