Korean slang profile
영끌
yeongkkeul
Scraping together every resource
Putting together as much money as possible, including borrowing, to make a large purchase, especially a home.
- Expanded form
- 영혼까지 끌어모으다Scraping together every resource
- Other spellings
- —
- Earliest source found
- Oct 12, 2020
- Documented trend period
- 2020~
This is the earliest source we have verified, not the date the term was coined.
01Examples, with English translations
- Example by Julimmal
영끌해서 집을 샀대.
Apparently they scraped together everything they had, including loans, to buy a house.
- Quoted from a source
‘영끌(영혼까지 끌어모은다는 뜻의 신조어)’을 통해 주택을 구입하는 경우가 크게 늘면서[1]
As more people buy homes by scraping together every possible resource
English translation by Julimmal.
02Documented history
- October 2020Yonhap News explained the reason for the increase in the proportion of household loans to people in their 30s and younger based on data from the Bank of Korea, and reported that the number of people in their 30s purchasing houses using the so-called ‘영끌’ has increased significantly.[1]
03Origin & word formation
Yonhap News explains it as scraping together every possible resource, literally even one's soul. The article alone does not establish who first used it or when it began spreading.
Evidence for the origin explanationHigh
The article explicitly expands it as 영혼까지 끌어모은다, meaning to scrape together every possible resource. When it spread is unknown.
04Sources
Original titles and links are preserved. An English translation does not replace the original source.
- 커지는 가계대출은 ‘영끌’ 2030과 인구 늘어난 6070 주도 (연합뉴스)Published Oct 12, 2020Original source checked Nov 5, 2026