Dictionary — Entry No. 0643
먹었어
meogeosseo · verb
먹었어
meogeosseo
[muh-GUH-ssuh]
verbbeginner
Meaning
The informal past tense of 먹다 (meokda), meaning ‘ate’ or ‘had (a meal).’ Food culture is central to Korean social life, making this one of the most frequently used past-tense verbs in daily conversation. Asking ‘밥 먹었어?’ is as much a greeting as it is a question.
K-Pop & K-Drama Context
Korean food appears in nearly every K-Drama — characters bond over ramyeon, tteokbokki, and samgyeopsal at pivotal emotional moments. NewJeans members frequently post about eating together on Weverse, and fan communities light up with ‘뭐 먹었어?’ (‘What did you eat?’) whenever idols share food photos.
Example Sentences
밥 먹었어?
Bap meogeosseo?
Did you eat? / Have you eaten? (a Korean expression of care — asking this means ‘I’m thinking about you’)
나 떡볶이 먹었어!
Na tteokbokki meogeosseo!
I ate tteokbokki! (casual food update to a friend — tteokbokki = spicy rice cakes)
아무것도 못 먹었어.
Amugotdo mot meogeosseo.
I couldn’t eat anything. (expresses stress or sadness — 못 = couldn’t, often signals something is wrong)
⚠️ Don’t use meogeosseo when…
The vowels eo are pronounced like the ‘u’ in ‘but,’ not ‘ee’ — so it’s ‘muh-GUH-ssuh,’ not ‘me-go-sseo.’ Also, ‘밥 먹었어?’ is often a genuine expression of care, not just a literal food inquiry; responding only with a yes/no can feel cold.
🎵 Heard In
- K-Drama: Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha — Chief Hong asks ‘밥 먹었어?’ as his go-to way of checking on Hye-jin, turning the simple past-tense food question into a running tender gesture across the entire series.
- K-Pop: NewJeans — ‘Hype Boy’ — the group’s warm, friend-group energy mirrors the casual intimacy of asking 먹었어, and fans connect the phrase to the members’ beloved Weverse food posts and group meal photos.
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.