Dictionary — Entry No. 0573
달콤해
dalkomhae · adjective
달콤해
dalkomhae
[dal-KOM-hay]
adjectivebeginner
Meaning
The casual form of 달콤하다 (dalkomhada), meaning ‘sweet’ — both literally in taste and figuratively for a sweet personality, moment, or romance. In K-Pop lyrics it almost always refers to romantic sweetness, while in K-Dramas it describes the warm, giddy honeymoon phase of a relationship. The word is playful and tender in tone.
K-Pop & K-Drama Context
BLACKPINK’s Lisa described her ideal type as someone 달콤한 (dalkomhan) in a 2020 interview, and the clip went viral, teaching thousands of international fans the word in minutes. NewJeans’ soft, nostalgic aesthetic is constantly described by Korean critics as 달콤한 감성 (dalkomhan gamsong, sweet sensibility), cementing the word in fourth-generation K-Pop discourse.
Example Sentences
이 케이크가 너무 달콤해!
I keikeu-ga neomu dalkomhae!
This cake is so sweet! (literal taste — a natural exclamation in idol mukbang content)
네 말이 달콤해.
Ne mar-i dalkomhae.
Your words are sweet. (figurative — said when someone gives a charming or flattering compliment)
달콤한 사랑을 꿈꿔.
Dalkomhan sarang-eul kkumkwo.
I dream of a sweet love. (달콤한 is the attributive form — the version used before a noun)
⚠️ Don’t use dalkomhae when…
Don’t confuse 달콤해 (dalkomhae, sweet) with 달라 (dalla, different / give me) — both appear frequently in K-Pop lyrics and can sound alike to untrained ears. Also in some contexts 달콤해 describes something deceptively pleasant, so check the tone of the scene before assuming pure positivity.
🎵 Heard In
- K-Drama: Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo (역도요정 김복주, 2016) — the couple’s nervous first date at a dessert café, full of shared sweets and shy laughter, is a textbook 달콤한 순간 (sweet moment) that fans rewatch for pure feel-good energy.
- K-Pop: BLACKPINK — Ice Cream (with Selena Gomez, 2020). The entire song is a playful extended metaphor for 달콤한 love, making it a perfect musical definition of the word.
ℹ️ Editorial Note: The cultural context and example usage are for educational reference only. Artist names, song titles, and drama references are used descriptively to illustrate vocabulary in context. This content is AI-assisted and reviewed for accuracy. For official information, please refer to the respective artists’ or studios’ official channels.