헐 (heol)

What it means

1. 1.

   Whoa; what the — the sound of being briefly stunned. Slightly more negative than 대박, and used for the unwelcome as readily as the impressive.

Examples with translations

• 헐, 지갑 놓고 왔어.

  Oh no — I've left my wallet behind.

• 헐 대박 진짜?

  Whoa — seriously?

  Note: The three words are so often chained together that the sequence functions as one reaction.

Where it comes from

An onomatopoeia for a sharp intake of breath, written down and spread through early-2000s online chat and text messaging. It moved from typing into speech, not the other way round.

First attested: early 2000s

Other forms

Romanised as:

heol