Dictionary — Entry No. 0323
여보세요
yeoboseyo · honorific
여보세요
yeoboseyo
[yuh-BOH-seh-yoh]
honorificbeginner
Meaning
The standard Korean telephone greeting, equivalent to ‘Hello?’ in English when answering or initiating a phone call. It is used exclusively for telephone or intercom situations and cannot substitute for an in-person greeting. The word derives from 여보 (yeobo, an intimate address) combined with the polite imperative 세요 (seyo), historically meaning something like ‘please look here,’ though this etymology is no longer felt in modern usage.
K-Pop & K-Drama Context
Yeoboseyo is a dramatic staple of K-Dramas, where phone calls carry enormous emotional weight — confessions, confrontations, and life-changing revelations all arrive through this word. In Crash Landing on You, Hyun Bin’s tense yeoboseyo during secret cross-border calls carries the full emotional tension of the separated romance. IU’s drama My Mister features quiet, devastating phone scenes where yeoboseyo is loaded with unspoken feeling. BLACKPINK members answer fan video calls with yeoboseyo during BLACKPINK HOUSE, producing some of the show’s most genuine unscripted moments.
Example Sentences
여보세요? 지금 통화 가능해요?
Yeoboseyo? Jigeum tonghwa ganeunghaeyo?
Hello? Are you free to talk right now? (polite, standard phone opener)
여보세요, 거기 김민준 씨 댁이죠?
Yeoboseyo, geogi Kim Minjun ssi daegijyo?
Hello, is this the Kim Minjun residence? (formal, calling someone’s home)
여보세요? 잘 안 들려요.
Yeoboseyo? Jal an deullyeoyo.
Hello? I can’t hear you well. (the universal bad-connection response)
⚠️ Don’t use yeoboseyo when…
Never use yeoboseyo as an in-person greeting — approaching someone in person and saying it is as strange in Korean as walking up to someone and saying ‘Hello? Hello?’ It is phone-only. Very formal business calls may also require additional polite language beyond yeoboseyo alone.
🎵 Heard In
- K-Drama: Crash Landing on You — the whispered yeoboseyo exchanged between Yoon Se-ri and Ri Jeong-hyeok during their secret calls became one of the most emotionally charged recurring moments in the series.
- K-Pop: BLACKPINK — BLACKPINK HOUSE (members answer surprise fan video calls with yeoboseyo, capturing unscripted reactions fans rewatched endlessly)
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.