''Paiting!'' (, ) or ''Hwaiting!'' (, ) is a

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

word of support or encouragement. It is frequently used in sports or whenever a challenge such as a difficult test or unpleasant assignment is met. It derives from a

Konglish Konglish (; ), more formally Korean-style English (; ) comprises English and other foreign language loanwords that have been appropriated into Korean, and includes many that are used in ways that are not readily understandable to native English ...

borrowing of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

word "Fighting!"

Description

__NOTOC__ Paiting as used in Korean has undergone the process of

translanguaging Translanguaging is a term that can refer to different aspects of multilingualism. It can describe the way bilinguals and multilinguals use their linguistic resources to make sense of and interact with the world around them. It can also refer to a ...

, causing it to have different meanings in English and Korean. In

, "fighting" is a

verb A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...

(specifically, a

present participle In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adject ...

) whereas cheers and exclamations of support usually take the form of imperative

s. ''Paiting!''’s Japanese equivalent, for example, is the more grammatically standard ''Faito!'' (). For that reason, ''paiting!'' is often translated in English as "Come on!" or "Let's go!" ''Daehan Minguk Paiting!'' () might be glossed as "Go, Korea!" English does sometimes use adjectives and nouns as words of support ("Good!" "Good job!") but the original meaning of fighting simply implies some conflict exists; it doesn't imply either side will be victorious and offers no support. ''Paiting!'' is often accompanied by the expression ''Aja aja!'' (), which has a similar meaning. The pronunciation ''Hwaiting'', despite often being used colloquially, is not included in important Korean dictionaries such as ''

Standard Korean Language Dictionary ''Standard Korean Language Dictionary'' () is a dictionary of the Korean language, published by the National Institute of Korean Language. History The compilation of Standard Korean Language Dictionary was commenced on 1 January 1992, by The ...

''. Due to the global popularization of Korean pop culture (known as

Korean Wave The Korean Wave, or ''hallyu'' (; ), is a cultural phenomenon in which the global popularity of South Korean popular culture has dramatically risen since the 1990s. Worldwide interest in Korean culture has been led primarily by the spread of K-p ...

or ''hallyu), paiting!'' has returned to the English language. In September 2021 the interjection was added to the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

under the entry "fighting, int", distinguishing it from the native English usage of the word. ''Paiting!'' is limited to only South Korean dialects of the Korean language. North Korean dialects do not include ''paiting!'' due to the limited contact with the English world and general tendency to translate loanwords into 'pure' Korean.

Variations

Spelling and pronunciation of ''paiting!'' as an interjection varies in Korean. This is due to the voiceless labiodental fricative sound not existing in Korean. To make up for this, the sound is adjusted in Korean to either an aspirated voiceless bilabial stop ʰ or the combination of a voiceless bilabial fricative and labiovelar semivowel �w These pronunciations are then romanized back into English as either "paiting" or "hwaiting".

Related terms

In addition to ''Faito!'', terms used similarly in

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

are the

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

'' Jiayou!'' (, "

add oil "Add oil" is a Hong Kong English expression used as an encouragement and support to a person. Derived from the Chinese phrase ''Jiayou (cheer), Gayau'' (or ''Jiayou''; ), the expression is calque, literally translated from the Cantonese phrase. I ...

!") and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

'' Ganbatte!'' (). The growing importance of Korean pop culture means that "Fighting!" is now sometimes used in Chinese-to-English and Japanese-to-English translations as well to convey these native phrases.

References

{{Reflist South Korean popular culture Korean words and phrases Chants