카톡 (katok)

What it means

1. 1.

   KakaoTalk, and by extension any message sent on it — which in Korea means essentially all messages. 카톡해 is 'message me'.

2. 2.

   The notification sound is itself a cultural fixture, and 카톡왔숑 is onomatopoeia for it.

Examples with translations

• 이따 카톡할게.

  I'll message you later.

• 단톡방에 공지 올렸어.

  I've posted the announcement in the group chat.

  Note: 단톡방, from 단체 카톡방, is a group chat — and the source of a particular kind of workplace dread.

Where it comes from

카카오톡 clipped to two syllables. KakaoTalk's dominance in Korea is close to total, which is why the brand name became the generic verb.

Other forms

Romanised as:

katok