Korean Terms of Endearment: 17 Pet Names Couples Actually Use

The Short Answer

The most popular Korean term of endearment is 자기야 (Jagiya), meaning "baby" or "honey." It is gender-neutral, works for both dating and married couples, and is the pet name you will hear most often in K-dramas and real Korean relationships.

Korean is spoken by over 80 million people worldwide, according to Ethnologue's 2024 data. What makes Korean pet names fascinating is how deeply they are shaped by the culture's age hierarchies, gender roles, and the distinction between dating and marriage. Terms like 오빠 (Oppa) and 언니 (Eonni) are kinship words repurposed as romantic endearments, while 여보 (Yeobo) is reserved strictly for married couples. This system reflects a society where your relationship to another person -- your age, your gender, your marital status -- determines which words of affection are available to you.

"In Korean, the pet name you choose encodes not just affection but your entire social relationship with the listener: their age relative to yours, your gender, and whether you are dating or married. The vocabulary of love is also a vocabulary of social structure."

(Adapted from Ho-Min Sohn, The Korean Language, Cambridge University Press, 1999)

This guide covers 17 Korean terms of endearment organized by category: universal favorites, age-based kinship terms, married couple terms, modern Konglish borrowings, and playful nicknames. Each includes Hangul, romanization, pronunciation, an example sentence, and cultural context.

Quick Reference: Korean Terms of Endearment at a Glance

Why Korean Pet Names Are Unique

Before exploring individual terms, understanding what makes Korean terms of endearment different from Western pet names is essential. Three cultural forces shape the entire system.

Age hierarchy (서열, seoyeol): Many Korean pet names are repurposed kinship terms, including 오빠 (older brother, from a woman), 언니 (older sister, from a woman), 형 (older brother, from a man), and 누나 (older sister, from a man). Using these romantically requires the age relationship to be correct. You cannot call someone 오빠 if they are younger than you.

Gender specificity: Unlike English where "honey" or "babe" works regardless of who says it, several Korean endearments are gendered. 오빠 can only be used by women. 누나 can only be used by men. The term you choose announces both your gender and your partner's relative age.

Dating vs. marriage: Korean draws a clear line between couples who are dating and couples who are married. 여보 (Yeobo) is strictly for married partners. Using it while dating would feel like wearing a wedding ring on a second date.

Universal Pet Names

These terms of endearment work regardless of age or gender and are the safest starting point for any Korean couple.

자기야 (Jagiya)

자기야 is the undisputed champion of Korean pet names. Its literal meaning ("self" or "oneself") creates a poetic intimacy that linguists have noted is unique to Korean. By calling your partner "self," you imply that they are an extension of you, that the boundary between "me" and "you" has dissolved. In practice, it functions identically to "baby" or "honey" in English.

The shortened form 자기 (Jagi) drops the vocative particle -야 and is equally common. You will hear both forms constantly in K-dramas and on Korean variety shows. According to the National Institute of Korean Language, 자기 as a term of endearment has been in widespread use since at least the 1990s.

내 사랑 (Nae Sarang)

While 자기야 handles the daily work of pet names, 내 사랑 is reserved for moments of genuine emotional depth. 내 (nae) means "my" and 사랑 (sarang) means "love." You are more likely to hear this in a birthday card, a tearful airport farewell, or a Korean movie than in a text about picking up groceries.

소중한 사람 (Sojunghan Saram)

This expression reflects a characteristically Korean approach to endearment: describing what someone means to you rather than labeling them with a nickname. Telling someone they are 소중한 사람 (a precious person) carries enormous emotional weight precisely because of its restraint. Yeon and Brown note in Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge, 2011) that Korean speakers often favor descriptive expressions over direct terms when the emotional stakes are highest.

Age-Based Kinship Terms (Used Romantically)

These are among the most distinctive Korean terms of endearment. Originally kinship terms for siblings, they have been repurposed as romantic address between partners of different ages. Our Korean learning page has exercises that help you practice these in context.

오빠 (Oppa)

Perhaps no Korean word has achieved greater international recognition than 오빠. Its literal meaning ("older brother" from a female speaker) transforms in romantic contexts into something between "babe" and a flirtatious term of endearment for an older boyfriend. PSY's Gangnam Style ("오빠 강남 스타일") introduced the word to billions, and K-dramas have cemented its romantic connotation worldwide.

The Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) notes that 오빠 occupies a unique cultural space where familial respect and romantic affection overlap. When a woman calls her boyfriend 오빠, she simultaneously acknowledges his older age (showing respect) and expresses intimate closeness. This dual function does not exist in English.

Important: 오빠 is exclusively used by women for older men. A man calling another man 오빠 in a romantic context would cause confusion.

언니 (Eonni)

While 오빠 gets the global spotlight, 언니 carries equal cultural significance. In its standard use, it means "older sister" from a younger woman. Between close female friends, 언니 expresses warmth and admiration. In same-sex relationships between women, it functions as a romantic term of endearment with the same age-respect dynamic as 오빠.

형 (Hyeong)

형 is the male counterpart of 오빠. It means "older brother" from a male speaker. While its romantic use is primarily in same-sex male relationships, it carries deep emotional warmth in Korean male friendships as well, where calling someone 형 signifies trust, loyalty, and fraternal affection.

누나 (Nuna)

When a younger man dates an older woman in Korea, he addresses her as 누나, literally "older sister" from a male speaker. The "누나 romance" (누나 로맨스) has become a beloved K-drama trope, featured in shows like Something in the Rain and Encounter. The term carries a particular charm: the younger man acknowledges his partner's seniority while the intimacy of using a family term conveys deep affection.

Married Couple Terms

These terms are the territory of married partners. Using them while dating would be premature and potentially awkward.

여보 (Yeobo)

여보 is the Korean "darling" reserved for marriage. It carries a warmth and domestic weight that 자기야 does not quite reach, the difference between a dating nickname and a term that acknowledges shared vows and a shared life. Interestingly, 여보 shares the same etymological root as 여보세요 (yeoboseyo, the phone greeting), both deriving from an archaic phrase meaning "look here."

According to Sohn's The Korean Language (Cambridge University Press, 1999), 여보 has been the standard married-couple address term in Korean for centuries. It is gender-neutral (both husbands and wives use it), and its continued prevalence reflects the deep cultural significance Koreans place on the institution of marriage.

우리 사람 (Uri Saram)

The word 우리 (uri) is one of the most revealing words in the Korean language. It means "our" or "we," but Koreans use it where English speakers would say "my": 우리 집 (our house, meaning "my house"), 우리 엄마 (our mom, meaning "my mom"), and 우리 사람 (our person, meaning "my partner"). This collectivist pronoun reflects a worldview where individual possession is softened into shared belonging.

Playful and Affectionate Nicknames

These pet names lean cute, playful, and sweet, the kind of terms couples use in text messages and lighthearted moments.

애기 (Aegi)

애기 is a softened, cutesy version of the standard word 아기 (agi, baby). The vowel shift from 아 to 애 makes it sound more playful and affectionate, a form of 애교 (aegyo), the Korean concept of expressing cuteness and charm. Between couples, calling each other 애기 is like saying "baby" in English, but with an extra layer of deliberate adorableness that Korean culture celebrates rather than finds embarrassing.

꿀 (Kkul)

While 허니 (Heoni) is the Konglish borrowing of "honey," 꿀 is the native Korean word for actual honey. Younger Koreans have adopted it as slang to describe anything sweet or perfect: 꿀잠 (kkul-jam, "honey sleep," meaning a perfect nap), 꿀피부 (kkul-pibu, "honey skin," meaning flawless complexion). As a pet name, calling someone 꿀 says they are the sweetest thing in your life.

공주님 (Gongjunim)

K-dramas have popularized the image of the devoted male lead treating his partner like royalty, and 공주님 is the verbal expression of that ideal. The honorific suffix -님 (nim) adds a layer of mock-formality that makes the term feel both respectful and playful, as you are simultaneously elevating your partner to royalty and acknowledging the game with a smile.

왕자님 (Wangjanim)

The male counterpart to 공주님. A woman calling her partner 왕자님 carries the same playful elevation: you are my prince, and I am half-serious about it. It appears more often in text messages and social media captions than in daily spoken conversation, fitting Korean couple culture's love of cute, performative affection in digital spaces.

귀요미 (Gwiyomi)

귀요미 exploded into Korean pop culture with the viral 귀요미 송 (Gwiyomi Song) in 2013 and has remained a staple of cute couple vocabulary ever since. Derived from 귀엽다 (gwiyeopda, to be cute), it transforms the adjective into a noun, "the cute one." It is the kind of pet name that thrives in Korean couple culture, where expressing and performing cuteness (애교, aegyo) is a valued relational skill rather than something to be embarrassed about.

Konglish Pet Names (Korean-English Borrowings)

Globalization and the influence of Western media have introduced English-derived pet names into Korean couples' vocabulary, adapted through Korean pronunciation.

달링 (Dalling)

달링 is the Korean pronunciation of "darling," written in Hangul and fully naturalized into the language. It occupies a specific cultural space: modern, playful, and slightly Western-influenced. Couples who use 달링 tend to be younger and internationally oriented. Using it with Korean in-laws or in front of older relatives might draw raised eyebrows -- not because it is offensive but because it signals a departure from traditional Korean romantic vocabulary.

허니 (Heoni)

Like 달링, 허니 is a Konglish borrowing that has found a niche among younger Korean couples. Some use it sincerely; others adopt it with a playful awareness of its foreign origin, a wink at the globalized nature of modern Korean romance. While older Koreans might find these borrowed terms somewhat strange, they have become completely normalized in Korean digital communication, appearing frequently in KakaoTalk messages and Instagram captions.

Korean Terms of Endearment: Dating vs. Marriage

Understanding which pet names belong to which relationship stage is crucial. Here is a practical guide.

"The Korean language provides a remarkably precise toolkit for calibrating the distance between two people. Every pronoun, every suffix, every term of address is a measurement of social and emotional proximity."

(Jaehoon Yeon & Lucien Brown, Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar, Routledge, 2011)

Practice With Real Korean Content

Reading about Korean terms of endearment builds vocabulary, but hearing them spoken naturally (the sing-song 자기야 between K-drama leads, the warm 여보 between a married couple over breakfast, the flirtatious 오빠 that changed the course of a love story) is what makes them real. Korean romance dramas are an unparalleled resource for absorbing these terms in their natural emotional context.

Wordy lets you watch Korean movies and dramas with interactive subtitles, tapping any pet name to see its meaning, formality level, and cultural context in real time. Instead of memorizing 자기야 from a list, you absorb it from the scene where the lead finally calls their partner by that name for the first time.

For more Korean content, explore our blog for guides including the best movies to learn Korean. You can also visit our Korean learning page to start practicing with real content today.