썸 (sseom)

What it means

1. 1.

   The stage before a relationship: more than friends, nothing declared. 썸 타다 is to be in it, and 썸남/썸녀 is the person you are in it with.

2. 2.

   A named stage rather than a vague one. Korean dating turns on a declaration — 사귀자, 'let's go out' — and 썸 is everything that comes before it.

Examples with translations

• 우리 지금 썸 타는 중이야.

  We're in that not-quite-dating stage.

• 썸만 타다가 흐지부지됐어.

  It never got past the almost-something stage and fizzled out.

Where it comes from

From English 'something' — as in 'there's something going on there' — clipped to one syllable. Popularised by a 2014 song of the same name.

First attested: around 2010

Other forms

Romanised as:

sseom