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Korean · Joy & Jackpots

아싸!

assa

AH-ssah · /a.s͈a/

Yes! / score! — the fist-pump syllables.

1/5 Grandma-safe

mild, playful; fine on daytime TV

Literally

"(a whoop of triumph)"

Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.

How to use it

The involuntary noise of small victory: the parking spot, the last seat on the KTX, payday landing early, the gacha pull hitting. 아싸! comes with a fist pump pre-installed. Fully Grandma-safe and impossible to misuse — it's aimed at the universe, never at a person. One homonym warning for your streaming vocabulary: 아싸 is also slang for 아웃사이더 (outsider — the person who skips the group dinners), so "아싸!" is joy but "나 아싸야" means "I'm a loner." Context and the exclamation point do the sorting.

Heard in the wild

아싸! 막차 딱 맞춰 탔다.

Yes! Caught the last train right on time.

Where it lands

South Korea (universal)

Quick answers

What does "아싸!" mean?
In Korean, "아싸!" means "Yes! / score! — the fist-pump syllables.". Literally it's "(a whoop of triumph)". The involuntary noise of small victory: the parking spot, the last seat on the KTX, payday landing early, the gacha pull hitting. 아싸! comes with a fist pump pre-installed. Fully Grandma-safe and impossible to misuse — it's aimed at the universe, never at a person. One homonym warning for your streaming vocabulary: 아싸 is also slang for 아웃사이더 (outsider — the person who skips the group dinners), so "아싸!" is joy but "나 아싸야" means "I'm a loner." Context and the exclamation point do the sorting.
Is "아싸!" offensive?
It's on the mild end — 1/5 (Grandma-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. mild, playful; fine on daytime TV.
How do you pronounce "아싸!"?
Say it "AH-ssah" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: a.s͈a.

Related in Korean

개― gae- geh Dog- as a prefix: 'insanely / totally' — and slang-positive as often as negative. 짱 jjang jjahng The best / awesome — thumbs-up in word form. 개이득 gaeideuk geh-EE-deuk Massive win / total steal — profit so good it needs the dog prefix. 꿀잼 kkuljaem KKOOL-jem So much fun / hilarious — honey-grade entertainment. 개맛있어 gaemasisseo geh-mah-SHEE-ssuh Insanely delicious — the dog prefix doing its finest work. 최고 choego CHWEH-goh The best! — clean, all-ages, thumbs-up enthusiasm.

The same idea, elsewhere

Via concepts like "Hell yes".

how to say "Hell yes" →

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