What does “잔소리” mean in Korean?

잔소리 is the small, repeated scolding every Korean kid knows — the parental refrain of “그만 먹어” (stop eating) and “얼른 자” (go to sleep). It breaks down as 잔 (small, trivial) plus 소리 (sound), so it literally means “trivial sounds”: speech that keeps coming and rarely lands. Calling something 잔소리 is half complaint, half affection — you’re rolling your eyes, but you know it comes from care.

The word covers everything from a parent’s nightly “얼른 자” to “그만 좀 싸워라” (“quit fighting with your sibling”). Kids complain 잔소리가 너무 많아요 (“there’s so much nagging”), and the verb 잔소리하다 / 잔소리(를) 하다 (“to nag”) is just as common for the person doing it. The 잔 in front — meaning fine, petty, trivial — is the same one in 잔돈 (small change) and 잔심부름 (little errands), so 잔소리 fits a whole family of “small, fiddly” words. It’s also the title of a famous IU and 2AM duet, which made the word a pop-culture shorthand for affectionate nagging.