Nuance Dictionary / Social Situations
어영부영 Eoyeong-buyeong
Doing a task in a sloppy, half-hearted, time-wasting blur due to pure avoidance.
What does 어영부영 mean?
어영부영 (Eoyeong-buyeong) means: Doing a task in a sloppy, half-hearted, time-wasting blur due to pure avoidance.
Natives reach for 어영부영 when someone lets a task slip through their fingers through sheer lack of focus, stalling until the deadline collapses on them. It carries a heavy social sting in Korea's hyper-efficient, speed-obsized (빨리빨리) culture, where slacking off quietly is viewed not just as laziness, but as a subtle disrespect to the collective group's time—especially under the watchful eye of a senior or boss within the strict hierarchy of the workplace. Learners usually treat it like a cute adverb for 'slowly,' missing that it drips with mild frustration and self-reproach for wasted hours.
Other sides of 어영부영
◆ The Time Drifter — Natives reach for '어영부영' not just when they're lazy, but when a whole Sunday dissolves into a blur of phone-scrolling and staring at the ceiling because the invisible pressure of adult expectations feels too heavy to tackle. In Korea's hyper-scheduled, achievement-obsessed hustle culture—where everyone is hyper-aware of *눈치* (social radar) and constant productivity—'어영부영' carries a guilty, private weight of squandered time that you wouldn't proudly confess to your boss, but would sigh about over a late-night beer with a close friend.
How it's actually used
- 주말 내내 어영부영하다가 과제는 손도 못 댔어.
jumal nae-nae eoyeong-buyeong-hada-ga gwaje-neun son-do mot daesseo.
I faffed about the whole weekend and couldn't even touch my assignment.
💡 Reveals the self-directed guilt of letting time slip away through half-focused procrastination. - 어영부영 넘어갈 생각 하지 마세요.
eoyeong-buyeong neomeo-gal saenggak haji maseyo.
Don't you dare think you can just sweep this under the rug half-heartedly.
💡 Used in formal or hierarchical contexts to warn someone they can't dodge accountability with a sloppy half-effort. - 계획 없이 어영부영 살다 보면 시간만 가.
hoehw-eobsi eoyeong-buyeong salda bomyeon sigan-man ga.
If you just drift through life aimlessly and half-baked, time just wastes away.
💡 Captures the older generation's exasperated advice against squandering youth without clear direction.
Related words in Social Situations
가임기 ga-im-gi가성비 ga-seong-bi개판 gae-pan갑분싸 gap-bun-ssa겉돌다 geot-dol-da