Korean slang profile
신토불이
sintobuli
Crisis-era wordplay about lying low
Here, a variant usage during the foreign-exchange crisis meaning to lie flat with one’s body close to the ground.
- Expanded form
- Not documented
- Other spellings
- —
- Earliest source found
- Nov 6, 1998
- 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 직장 풍자에서 신토불이는 몸을 낮추라는 뜻으로도 쓰였다.
In workplace satire at the time, 신토불이 could also mean keeping one’s head down.
02Documented history
No history documented.
03Origin & word formation
서울신문 in 1998 introduces a variant usage meaning to lie flat. The first user and time have not been verified.
Evidence for the origin explanationMedium
Only the variant usage in the 1998 article was checked. This does not explain the usual meaning or origin of 신토불이.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- 달라진 사회상(IMF체제 1년:2) (서울신문)Published Nov 6, 1998Original source checked Nov 15, 2026