aespa: CHEMISTRY

Not sure what “chemistry” means in K-Pop? Click here.

KARINA - GISELLE

audiz 👍

(kor: 아우디즈)

• Audi sounds like the car brand, but here it actually stands for the meme of the outdated Korean way of making a toast by jokingly saying, “Our friendship will last until we die!”
• Specifically, Audi stands for “Friendship of beautiful women will last until death” (kor: 아름다운 여자들의 우정은 뒤질때까지), by leaving the syllables 아 (ah), 우(u), 뒤/디 (di).
• Karina and Giselle first introduced Audi chemistry with a short clip on their official YouTube channel.
• Audiz also has a vlog series called Audiz’s Finding Tour✈️ (kor: 아우디즈의 찾아서 투어✈️) where they search for a specific food menu. (read more about the Audiz’s Finding Tour here)

bbangbbangz

(kor: 빵빵즈)

• Karina and Giselle were both born in the year 2000. In Korea, the year you were born in are an important reference point in social etiquettes - as you’re considered “the same age” and “friends” if you were born in the same year.
• The last two numbers of 2000 are 00 (two zeroes). A casual way to call the number zero in Korean is “bbang.” Therefore, as both 2000-liners, Karina and Giselle are the “bbangbbangz” of the group.

unniez

(kor: 언니즈)

• As the two eldest members of the group, Karina and Giselle are the “unnies” half of the group.
• Unnie is the Korean word for “older sister,” or a way for women to address older women in a friendly manner.

uyooz

(kor: 우유즈)

• Uyoo is the Korean word for “milk,” but here, it is a combination of Karina and Giselle’s real names.
• Giselle’s given name is Uchinaga Eri and Karina’s given name is Yoo Jimin. Combining the first syllable of their names (U+Yoo), you get uyoo.

kaymakz

(kor: 카이막즈)

• In the aforementioned vlog series (Audiz’s Finding Tour✈️) Karina and Giselle went on a search to find kaymak (Turkish dairy food).

teddiez

(kor: 테디즈)

• Karina and Giselle did a photoshoot for Harper’s BAZAAR in the Max Mara teddy bear coats in 2023.

KARINA - WINTER

jiminjeong

(kor: 지민정)

• jiminjeong is the combination of Karina and Winter’s real names.
• Karina’s given name is Yoo Jimin, and Winter’s given name is Kim Minjeong. As they both share the syllable min in their real names, the combination ‘jiminjeong’ sounds natural.

winrina 👍

(kor: 윈리나)

• winrina is the combination of Karina and Winter’s stage names.

KARINA - NINGNING

roomaez

(kor: 룸메즈)

• Karina and Ningning are currently roommates in their dormitory. The Korean acronym for the word roommates is “roomae” (kor:룸메).

matmakz

(kor: 맏막즈)

• As Karina is the eldest member of aespa (born in 2000) and Ningning is the youngest member of aespa (born in 2002), Karina is the “first child,” and Ningning is the “youngest child” of the group.
• The Korean word for the eldest is “maji” (kor:맏이), and the Korean word for the youngest is “maknae” (kor: 막내). Combining the first syllables of each word, you get “matmak” (맏막)**.

** “Matmak” is a common chemistry pairing in K-Pop, between any youngest or oldest members in a group.

karining

(kor: 카리닝)

• karining is the combination of Karina and Ningning’s stage names.

GISELLE - WINTER

guhboogiz 👍

(kor: 거부기즈)

• Guhboogi (kor: 거북이) is the Korean word for “turtle.” In Korea, the “forward head posture” (FHP) is called the “turtle neck syndrome.”
• A person has FHP when they lean their head forward in their natural position, out of neutral alignment with their spine, much like a turtle’s head out of its shell.
• Giselle and Winter made fun of their own bad postures by giving themselves this name.

dumb and dumber 👍

(kor: 덤앤더머)

• The name of this pairing is a reference to the 1994 comedy film Dumb and Dumber starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. In Korea, the movie is often used as slang to call a duo that’s acting more chaotic and stupid when they’re together (in a joking manner).
• In the aespa TMI interview, Winter and Giselle were doing a speed quiz where Giselle said “When we’re together, we’re like this.” and Winter replied with “Dumb?” They immediately laughed and pointed at each other, saying “Dumb and Dumber.”

GISELLE - NINGNING

foreignz

(kor: 외국인즈 / rom: Oeguginjeu)

• As the two non-Korean members of aespa, they are sometimes unfamiliar with Korean references that Karina and Winter take for granted.
• Giselle and Ningning are thus called “foreignz,” or “외국인즈” - as in, “the foreigners”.
• Ningning is from China, and Giselle is half-Japanese and half-Korean. Giselle had dual nationalities of Japan and Korea until before she turned 22. Now Giselle’s nationality is solely Japanese, as Japan does not allow one to possess dual nationalities past the age of 22.

chobaz 👍

(kor: 초바즈)

• Chobaz is short for “chocolate banillaz”. This was from a Twitter post of selfies of Giselle and Ningning together, with the caption “chocvanilla”.
• In the post, Giselle has chocolate brown hair with a dark top, and Ningning’s hair is light brown while she is seen wearing a white top.

WINTER - NINGNING

dongsaengz

(kor: 동생즈)

• As the two youngest members of the group, Winter and Ningning are the “dongsaengs” half of the group.
• Dongsaeng is the Korean word for “younger sibling,” regardless of gender.

winning 👍

(kor: 윈닝)

• winning is the combination of Winter and Ningning’s stage names.
• Spelled like the English word “winning,” it’s actually pronounced “win-ning” to highlight the two distinct syllables of the members’ names.
• Winter and Ningning addressed themselves as “winning” in the ‘Savage’ Jacket Behind the Scenes.