What does “식구” (sikgu) mean in Korean K-drama slang?
카페에서 전 여자친구와 다시 만난 순간
B1 Korean listening practice · Jeolla Korean · Picked for people who know some
식구 (sikgu) is a Korean word that traditionally means “family member” or “people who eat together,” from 식 (sik, “to eat”) and 구 (gu, “mouth, person”). It’s an old, warm word for the people in your household. But Korean crime films and gangster K-dramas borrowed sikgu and gave it a second life: in those genres, sikgu means “crew” or “gang” in the mafia sense. Asking “너 어디 식구야?” (“which crew are you?”) is a classic K-drama gangster line.
This clip plays both meanings: a man runs into his ex-girlfriend at a café and the conversation slides into gangster-coded slang, including age-tag pairings like “팔팔” (a person born in 1988). The mix of sikgu and 88-er (palpal) places the scene in the world of K-noir.
How common are the words?
How common are the words in this B1 Korean listening practice video?
How common in written Korean
Harder words in this video
These words are harder than B1. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Korean crime and gangster films (A Bittersweet Life, New World, Asura)
- ▸In K-dramas about gangs and revenge (Vincenzo, My Name, The Worst of Evil)
- ▸In Korean rap and hip-hop lyrics (Jay Park, BewhY)
- ▸In Korean stand-up and parody sketches about gangster films
- ▸In Korean dialect content from Busan and Daegu (often gangster-coded in films)