- Used by K-pop fans primarily, though groups outside of these fans will likely know the word, even if they only rarely use it. Created in response to recent growth of popularity in this type of exported music “Pop” was already a commonly used word prior to the growth of the K-pop industry, likely the “K” was added to specify the type. Oftentimes words used to specify type are added to the beginning of the word (for example, “fanfiction”). “K-pop” is analogous to “J-pop”, which is Japanese popular music.
K-pop
noun; compounding
K-pop group: A musical group from South Korea that creates trendy song; a group that makes K-pop music K-pop: Trendy, modern music from South Korea; usually exported
Etymology : K-pop is a compound of the clippings “K” and “pop”. “K” is a clipping of “Korean”, which is in turn a clipping of “South Korean”, which refers to the Asian country, South Korea. “Pop” is a clipping of “popular”, which refers to popular music, in particular.
Source : “Is that a k pop group with the Lego float?” 11/28/2019 Context: Discussion of Thanksgiving parade on messaging forum, Google Hangouts
Last modified: 21 December 2019