카더라

Korean

Etymology

The noun sense is derived from the verb, originally in the construction 카더라 방송 (kadeora bangsong, literally “'It Is Said' Broadcasting Service”).

A January 1980 opinion editorial, published in the Kyunghyang Shinmun daily, states that the noun was at that point a neologism that had only recently begun circulating in the Gyeongsang dialect-speaking city of Daegu, in reference to the unsubstantiated political rumors following the chaos of the Coup d'état of December Twelfth, 1979.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kʰa̠dʌ̹ɾa̠]
• Phonetic hangul: [카더라]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	kadeora
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	kadeola
McCune–Reischauer?	k'adŏra
Yale Romanization?	khatela

Verb

카더라 • (kadeora)

1. (Gyeongsang) they say, it is said; retrospective declarative form of 카다 (kada, “to say”)

Noun

카더라 • (kadeora)

1. (colloquial) an unsubstantiated rumor, now especially one on the Internet [since January 1980]

   Synonyms: 유언비어(流言蜚語), 소문(所聞), 풍문(風聞), 루머 (rumeo)

   그 사람이 이혼한다는 건 그냥 카더라야.

   geu saram-i ihonhandaneun geon geunyang kadeora-ya.

   It's just a rumor that he's going to divorce.