Pude Pude

Origin

"Pude-pude" is a mimetic word for sleeping, occupying the slot Korean previously gave to "kulkul" (the equivalent of "zzz"), and denoting deep, comfortable sleep.

Its starting point was language used on X to describe sleeping pets. Users writing that a soundly sleeping dog or cat was sleeping "pude-de" repeated the word often enough that the doubled form "pude-pude" settled in. An accompanying account holds that it began specifically with newborn puppies dropping off after nursing.

What is distinctive is that there is no underlying word it derives from. It was not modified out of anything meaningful but built purely from the impression of a sound, so it circulates on feel alone with no dictionary basis. "Pude-de" and "pude-pude" remain in use side by side.

Spread

The trend became visible in the second half of 2024. Usage rose enough that posts appeared on X saying "everyone started using this at some point and I have no idea where it came from," and by November 2024 it had been entered as an item in trend analyses cataloguing Gen Z mimetic words.

The mode of spread is notable too. A catchphrase normally has a source clip or utterance that propagates; this one grew in usage while nobody knew its origin. The cuteness of the sound is immediately legible, so no one needed the etymology explained.

Related coinages trended alongside it. It combined with "deureungseun," another sleep word, into forms like "deureungseun pude-pude," and derivatives such as "kulkulseun" and "kkalkkalseun" circulated in the same period.

Usage

• On photos of sleeping pets — the original usage
• Saying you slept well — "I slept pude-pude"
• Saying you want to sleep — softening fatigue into something cute
• On babies or people sleeping soundly — the widened application

Sources

• Careet, 27 November 2024 — "From pude-pude to kulkulseun: the mimetic words Gen Z is using" — how it began as descriptions of sleeping pets on X and standardized into "pude-pude," plus the related coinages of the period
• Trend Award, "They say pude-pude after eating a tangerine — what does it mean?" — the meaning and related expressions such as "deureungseun"
• Theqoo, "The etymology of pude-pude, widely used to mean sleeping soundly" — the community account of "pude-de" shifting to "pude-pude" from puppy descriptions
• X post, "At some point everyone started saying deureungseun pude-pude…" — November 2024, illustrating usage rising while the source remained unknown