What Does 영끌 (Yeongkkeul) Mean in Korean?

영끌 is how Korea named the all-in borrow.

What does yeongkkeul mean? 영혼까지 끌어모으다 — scrape every scrap, including loans, to buy the asset. English searchers often type yeongkkeul meaning after reading a housing headline.

The boom word

After prices jumped, younger buyers who felt locked out of Seoul housing (and some stock / coin traders) maximised credit. Media glued on -족: 영끌족 — the people who bought that way.

영끌해서 집 샀어.
I yeongkkeul’d into a home.

Cause talk uses -아서/어서:

집값이 올라서 영끌했어. — Prices rose, so I went all-in.

Ability versus duty sit next to each other:

더 이상은 영끌할 수 없어. — Can’t all-in anymore. (-을 수 있다)
원리금은 갚아야 돼. — Still have to repay. (-어야 되다)

That pairing is the whole story after rate hikes: the scrape was possible once; the repayment is not optional.

Who says it to whom

News → public: constant — definition boxes, risk explainers.

Friends comparing how they bought: careful honesty if both already use the word.

You → coworker about their mortgage size: invasive. Money talk needs an invitation.

Bank glossary → reader: they will define 영끌, then warn about 금리.

When not to use it

• To moralise someone drowning in rates — the word already carries anxiety.
• As investment advice (“just 영끌 the dip”).
• Mixing it with a harmless “I scraped my closet for this outfit” unless tone is clearly light.
• Confusing it with 파이어족 — one maximises leverage to buy; the other tries to exit the wage grind by saving.

Learner move

Pair it with 빚투 and rate headlines. It is economic vocabulary wearing slang clothes. Learn the full phrase once (영혼까지 끌어모으다) so the clip is not empty noise when a column uses it without expanding.