Nuance Dictionary / Culture & Language
오지랖 Ojirap
Affectionate or playful scolding for well-meaning, overbearing meddling in someone's personal life choices.
What does 오지랖 mean?
오지랖 (Ojirap) means: Affectionate or playful scolding for well-meaning, overbearing meddling in someone's personal life choices.
Speakers use this noun to refer specifically to the front lapel or lower panel of an outer garment like a coat or jacket. It appears in contexts involving clothing adjustments, such as pulling the front closed or fastening it. In dialogue, it arises when someone addresses another person about their clothing being open or loose at the front. It combines with verbs for pulling, folding, or adjusting garments.
While the literal dictionary sense refers entirely to clothing lapels, speakers widely use this same word in modern contexts to describe excessive, well-meaning meddling in others' personal lives, often carrying a tone of affectionate or playful reproach.
While the literal dictionary sense refers entirely to clothing lapels, speakers widely use this same word in modern contexts to describe excessive, well-meaning meddling in others' personal lives, often carrying a tone of affectionate or playful reproach.
Other sides of 오지랖
◆ Self-Deprecating Over-Involvement — The word refers to the front flap of an outer or upper garment, such as a coat or jacket. It appears in contexts involving clothing adjustments, such as pulling the front flap closed or lifting it, and combines with verbs of movement and physical action like 걷다, 들추다, and 여미다. In recorded dialogue, one speaker tells another to adjust their front garment flap because the chest is exposed, and the listener immediately agrees to do so in polite speech.
Among speakers, this literal noun is frequently extended to describe an intrusive, meddlesome personality that gets overly involved in other people's business, though this figurative use is distinct from the primary garment sense found in formal references.
Among speakers, this literal noun is frequently extended to describe an intrusive, meddlesome personality that gets overly involved in other people's business, though this figurative use is distinct from the primary garment sense found in formal references.
🎙️ 오지랖은 표기 그대로 읽지 않아요 — 실제로는 [오지랍]로 소리나요 (받침규칙). 발음 연습하기 →
How it's actually used
- 어머니는 오지랖을 걷고 동생에게 젖을 물렸다.
eomeo-n-eun o-ji-rap-eul geot-go dong-saeng-e-ge jeot-eul mul-lyeot-da.
The mother pulled back the front of her clothes and nursed the younger sibling.
💡 A mother adjusting her clothing to feed her child. - 승규는 기름이 묻은 손가락을 웃옷 오지랖에 썩썩 문질렀다.
seung-gyu-neun girim-i mut-eun son-garak-eul us-ot o-ji-rap-e sseok-sseok munjil-leot-da.
Seunggyu rubbed his greasy fingers briskly on the front of his outer jacket.
💡 Someone wiping dirty hands on their jacket lapel. - 서희는 오지랖을 걷고 아이에게 젖을 물린다.
seo-hui-neun o-ji-rap-eul geot-go a-i-e-ge jeot-eul mul-lin-da.
Seohui pulls back the front of her garment and nurses the child.
💡 A caregiver adjusting clothing to nurse an infant.
Related words in Culture & Language
옥수수 ok-su-su삐삐 ppi-ppi뽀뽀 ppo-ppo품앗이 pum-a-si사회생활 Sa-hoe-saeng-hwal