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What Does This Mean?

[ SLANG ][ MULTILINGUAL NATIVE ]

Korean slang, a clipping of 찐 ("real", an emphatic respelling of 진짜) and 친구 ("friend"), for a truly close friend: someone you confide in and can lean on, as opposed to an acquaintance or a social-media contact. 찐 also attaches to other nouns, as in 찐팬 (real fan).

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE

"He has hundreds of followers, but only three 찐친 he calls when things go wrong."

LORE & ORIGIN

Formed from 찐, a stressed form of 진짜 ("really, genuine"), plus 친구. A Korean parenting-terms wiki defines 찐친 as a genuinely close friend and describes 찐 as an emphatic spelling of 진짜 that also appears in words such as 찐팬; recent term; no dated source found yet.

FIRST SEEN
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PEAK ERA (EDITORIAL)
2020s, still in use
CURRENT STATUS
Mainstream Slang
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CULTURE CATEGORY
[ SLANG ][ MULTILINGUAL NATIVE ]
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