You May Have Done Aegyo Without Even Knowing It

Aeygo has taken over TikTok and at first we were like, WTF is this? But after further investigation, it actually is something we all do. Have you ever put on a baby voice to your boyfriend or girlfriend? That's aeygo. Do you have the best dog in the world and love them so much it hurts and you want to squeeze them so you put on a silly voice? That's aeygo.

Basically, Aegyo is a Korean term defined by The Collins Dictionary as, "denoting a Korean cultural style that emphasizes the quality of cuteness." In general, it refers to putting on a "cutesy" type of voice with similar movements.

And it has swept Gen Z and Millennials alike on TikTok!

TikTok creator @bebiisan took to her platform to further explain to the masses what Aegyo is. In a video with over 500K views, Bebiisan starts by saying that a lot of people have a "misconception of what Aegyo is." She adds, "Aegyo is actually a very broad term for acting cute...". Bebiisan continues by saying that, "you can make it extra cringey on purpose" with an example of her doing "ugly Aegyo."

Bebiisan finishes her video stating, "Y'all don't understand how embedded Aegyo is into Korean culture, so it is so incredibly broad."

Great! Thanks for clearing that up Bebiisan! So now that we have a clearer understanding of Aeygo, it comes as no surprise that Aeygo itself became a trend...

In the Aegyo TikTok dance trend, you can see the song, the moves, and the facial expressions definitely are meant to give off a "cute" vibe and we would say that they succeed in this.

But the dance is not the only Aegyo video that has gone for viral.

In a video posted by @jiminchii.aesthetic with 2.4 million views, we see a Korean girl and her guy friend talking about Aegyo. In the video, the girl asks him if he "knows what Aegyo is?" After he says he doesn't, she responds with "don't judge me" and starts to do the TikTok dance from above. His reaction is quite visceral saying, "I don't know what's worse. The fact that she's doing Aegyo or the fact that she knows that phrase..."

In this video that was just posted earlier this month, a girl switches her voice from Aegyo to normal, further emphasizing the differences between the "cutesy" voice that people put on, and their normal voice.

And there you have it! So basically we've been doing Aegyo to our pets this whole time and had no idea! All that's left is to learn Korean.