Paiting

"Fighting!" redirects here. For the Tank album, see Fighting (Tank album).

Paiting (Hangul: 파이팅, pronounced [pʰaitʰiŋ], or Hangul: 화이팅, pronounced [hwaitʰiŋ]), also known as Fighting, is a common Konglish expression in the Korean language that is meant to rally or cheer someone. It is used as a form of encouragement, often in sports or whenever a challenge is met.[1]

Its original word, in English, "fighting" is used as an adjective or present participle, not as exclamation. But its use has changed in Korean, so "Paiting" (or also pronounced "Hwaiting") is used as an exclamation. It is often translated as "Come on!" or "Let's go!" in English (such as "대한민국 파이팅!" → "Go, Korea!"),[2][3] but has no exact equivalent. The term is also meant to induce players and spectators alike to draw on inner power.

It is often accompanied by the expression "Aja aja!"(Hangul: 아자 아자)[4] which is a kind of rally. The expression "Hwaiting" (Hangul: 화이팅", pronounced [hwaitʰiŋ]), a synonym of "Paiting", while the original colloquial spelling used by Koreans, is not included in important Korean dictionaries such as The standard dictionary of the Korean language (표준국어대사전).[5]

Similar in meaning and use to the common Japanese phrases "Ganbatte!" (頑張って) and "Fight! (faito!)" (ファイト), and the Chinese "Jiayou!" (加油-literally, add oil).

Origin

It is a loan word from the English language "fighting".[1][3][6]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 파이팅 (in Korean). 국립국어원 표준국어대사전(The standard dictionary of the Korean language by The National Institute of the Korean Language). Retrieved December 27, 2010.
  2. "파이팅". Naver Korean-English dictionary. Retrieved December 2010.
  3. 3.0 3.1 성대석(Seong, Dae-seok) (2010-07-12). '대한민국 파이팅' 유감 (in Korean). The Chosun Ilbo. Retrieved December 27, 2010.
  4. 서정보(Seo, Jeong-bo) (2004-12-30). 올 최고 유행어는 ‘그런거야’ (in Korean). Dong-a Ilbo. Retrieved December 27, 2010. ‘아자, 아자, 파이팅’ KBS2 드라마 ‘풀하우스’에서 지은(송혜교)이 애교있게 외쳤던 말.
  5. 조남호 (Cho Nam-ho) (2006-12-04). 파이팅 (in Korean). The Korea Defence Daily. Retrieved December 27, 2010.
  6. 박용찬 (Park Yong-chan) (2004-10-06). "‘파이팅’(fighting)의 다듬은 말 ‘아자’" (in Korean). The Korea Defence Daily. Retrieved December 27, 2010.