Korean slang profile
심쿵
simkung
A flutter of the heart
The feeling of your heart beating from excitement, attraction, or surprise.
- Expanded form
- 심장이 쿵A flutter of the heart
- Other spellings
- —
- Earliest source found
- Mar 25, 2015
- Documented trend period
- Around 2014~
This is the earliest source we have verified, not the date the term was coined.
01Examples, with English translations
- Example by Julimmal
웃는 거 보고 심쿵했어.
Seeing that smile made my heart flutter.
- Quoted from a source
심쿵 심장이 쿵할 정도로 놀람을 이르는 말.[2]
심쿵 A word used to describe a surprise that makes one's heart pound.
English translation by Julimmal.
02Documented history
- March 2015The Seoul Newspaper introduced new words such as ‘Moruming tribe, brain-sexy man, Oppo generation, 심쿵’ under the title ‘Abbreviation popular, national language is ‘심쿵’’.[1]
- March 2015In the same new word announcement, Yonhap News introduced ‘심쿵’ as ‘a word that is so surprising that it makes your heart pound’.[2]
03Origin & word formation
Short for 심장이 쿵, describing a thump of the heart. Yonhap News's coverage of the National Institute of Korean Language's 2014 new-word announcement explains it as a degree of surprise that makes the heart thump. Who first used it and when have not been verified.
Evidence for the origin explanationHigh
The article relays an explanation from a government agency's new-word materials. When the expression was first used is unknown.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- 줄임말 유행에 나라말은 ‘심쿵’ (서울신문)Published Mar 25, 2015Original source checked Nov 5, 2026
- '금사빠녀' '꼬돌남' '인생짤'…사회현상 반영한 새 낱말들 (연합뉴스)Published Mar 25, 2015Original source checked Nov 5, 2026