Sunday, November 18, 2018

What does 띵호와 mean?

ANSWER: Very good!

The Chinese characters 挺好 (정호) translate as very (挺) good (好), but when Koreans say these characters, they imitate the Chinese pronunciation, which is tǐng (挺) hǎo (好). The Korean imitation, however, seems to use the Chinese pronunciation for only the first character and the Korean pronunciation for the second, resulting in 띵(挺) 호 (好). The 와 sound comes by adding the exclamatory ending 婀 (아) to the end of 띵호, forming 띵호아, which naturally became 띵호와 (挺好啊). The exclamatory ending 啊 (아) is represented by the exclamation point (!) in the English translation.

Koreans seem to use 띵호와 in a humorous way, similar to how some Americans sometimes use the Spanish "Muchas gracias" to say "Thank you very much." For example, the following video shows a guy playing a Korean game entitled "띵호와 주방장," which literally translates as "A Very Good Chef." It may also suggest the character in the game is cooking Chinese-style food. If you use this expression with your Korean waitress or waiter, you may get a smile, but I am not sure since I have never tried it.




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