눈치 (nunchi)

What it means

1. 1.

   The ability to read a room and judge what people actually want without being told. Having it is a compliment; 눈치가 없다, lacking it, is a real criticism.

2. 2.

   눈치를 보다 — 'to watch for nunchi' — is to keep an anxious eye on someone's mood before acting, which is as often a burden as a skill.

Literally: Eye-measure.

Examples with translations

• 쟤는 진짜 눈치가 없어.

  He genuinely cannot read a room.

• 상사 눈치 보느라 퇴근을 못 해.

  I can't leave the office because I'm watching for my boss's mood.

Where it comes from

Widely described as untranslatable, which overstates it — Japanese 空気を読む is close, and English 'reading the room' is closer than usually admitted. What is distinctive is how explicitly Koreans discuss it as a skill you can have more or less of.

Other forms

Romanised as:

nunchi