chaebol

[TRex]

Suggested addition: chaebol

I often encounter the word in business stories involving companies in South Korea. The Ngram Viewer shows this word started taking off in the late 1970s.

[mkenuk]

It's one of only two words of Korean that I know, the other being kimchi, pickled cabbage which is famous/notorious for its very distinctive aroma.

 I would suggest adding both chaebol and kimchi to Chi's lexicon - uncommon, of course - if they aren't already there.

 

[TRex]

Both chaebol and kimchi make the Wikipedia's List of English words of Korean origin. I think I counted 28 of them, far fewer than many other languages. I wonder why? The fact they weren't colonised by an English-speaking country is probably an important factor.

English has adopted so many words from other languages that Wikipedia needs a page,  Lists of English words by country or language of origin, of links to other pages for the many, many, many languages from which words have been taken.

I love the quote from Robert Claiborne's Our Marvelous Native Tongue: The Life and Times of the English Language:

For centuries, the English-speaking peoples have plundered the world for words, even as their military and industrial builders have plundered it for more tangible goods. And linguistic larceny has this major advantage over more conventional types of theft: it enriches the perpetrator without impoverishing the victim.

[birdy]

I do like that quote!

And then Wikipedia's needed page will also need a section for which part of the English-speaking world "acquired" the stolen word.

[Alan W]

Kimchi is already allowed in Chihuahua, as a rare word. Chaebol should definitely join it. It's listed in many English language dictionaries these days, and often appears in the news.

One indication that it should be classed as a rare word for the time being is that its meaning is often explained when the word is used. For example, an article about the South Korean film Parasite in Time in February:

Emboldened by the country’s expanding democratic rights and flush with cash from chaebols—large family-run conglomerates—a group of auteurs led by the trio Bong Joon-Ho, Kim Ji-woon and Park Chan-wook rose in the ’90s with films like The Quiet Family, Joint Security Area and Barking Dogs Never Bite.

Even the Wall Street Journal sometimes feels it necessary to gloss chaebols as "family-run conglomerates".

So, a rare word for now, but definitely a word.

[TRex]

One indication that it should be classed as a rare word for the time being is that its meaning is often explained when the word is used.

One of the best sources for tech news, The Register does not do this, and it drove me nuts. I repeatedly looked up the word — more times than I care to admit — until it finally penetrated the grey matter.

Thanks again, Alan.