Etymology

K-pop

Today it means: South Korean pop music influenced by Western styles. Full definition →

English J-popinflu. ← Middle English populer ← Latin populāris
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K-pop · noun1

  1. EnglishKoreanclip.
  2. EnglishK-
  3. Proto-Italic*poplos
  4. Old Latinpopulus
  5. Latinpopulus
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  8. Latinpopulāri
  9. Old Frenchpopulaire
  10. Latinpopulāris
  11. Middle Englishpopuler
  12. Englishpopularclip.
  13. Englishpop
  14. EnglishJ-popinflu.
  15. English todayK-pop

From K- (“Korean”) + pop, by analogy with J-pop.

K-pop · noun2

From the first letter of ketamine + pop (“lollipop”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.