What does 사바사 (sabasa) mean? Korean slang for “it depends on the person”

Our editor posted a poll in the team chat to pick a venue for the team dinner. Pork belly: three. Raw fish: two. Malatang: one. “Whatever”: two. The newest team member summed it up in one word: “사바사.” The team never did pick a menu.

사바사 isn't a faded fad. “사바사 meaning” still gets searched steadily, and plenty of people mix it up with the look-alike 사바사바. In 2024 a senior columnist even explained it in a newspaper column. Today we unpack Korea's three-syllable “it depends.”

Urimalsaem defines 사바사 as “a shortening of 사람 바이 사람, meaning that things differ by person,” and gives its etymology as 사←by사: the Korean word 사람 (person) twice, with English “by” wedged in between. If its sibling 케바케 (kebake) is about differences in situation, 사바사 is about differences between people. In practice, people use the two interchangeably.

• 민트초코 호불호? 그건 완전 사바사지Mint chocolate, love it or hate it? Totally 사바사.The never-ending dessert debate
• MBTI가 같아도 사바사더라Even with the same MBTI, it's 사바사.Two friends with the same type who couldn't be more different
• 신입 연봉은 회바회, 팀 분위기는 사바사Starting pay depends on the company; team vibe depends on the people.Advice on a job-hunting forum
• 엄마, 그 화장품 나한텐 안 맞았어. 피부는 사바사야Mom, that skincare didn't work for me. Skin is 사바사.Turning down Mom's recommendation
• 사바사라는 말로 다 넘어가면 회의가 안 끝나요If we answer everything with 사바사, this meeting will never end.A manager who needs a decision

It starts with the English “case by case.” Its Korean clipping, 케바케, caught on online first, and putting 사람 (person) into the same frame gave 사바사. In October 2016 the Gyeongnam Shinmun, reporting results of the National Institute of Korean Language's 2015 new-word survey obtained by then-Saenuri Party lawmaker Yeom Dong-yeol, introduced 사바사 as a variant of 케바케. The frame kept getting copied: 회바회 (by company), 점바점 (by branch), 부바부 (by military unit).

One: it ends arguments. Faced with questions that have no right answer — sauce poured on or dipped, mint chocolate, dating styles — one “사바사” lets both sides save face. Kang Shin-young, chair of a senior social cooperative, wrote in an Ulsan Press column that growing individualism makes it hard to judge right and wrong by a single standard. 사바사 suits that era.

Two: misused, it's a cheat code. Namuwiki's “Case by case” entry warns that such words shouldn't be used to deny general tendencies. Answer someone who cites a pattern with nothing but “that's 사바사,” and the conversation stops there. A word that respects diversity can also become a word that stops thinking.

According to the Gyeongnam Shinmun, the National Institute of Korean Language's 2015 survey collected 277 new words. 사바사 was presented alongside words like 헬조선 (“Hell Joseon”) and 개저씨 as slang that mirrored Korean society that year. The interesting part came next: the same article reports that the institute decided to use later survey results for research only, worried that unpolished words might look officially endorsed. 사바사 survived anyway, without any announcement, and now sits in Urimalsaem as a headword complete with definition and etymology. Read it next to 헬조선 (hel joseon), from the same survey, and you get a sense of the mood back then.

So 사바사 turns the obvious — people are different — into a three-syllable ceasefire line. Our editor's team ended up with pork belly anyway, the 국룰 (gukrul, “the national rule”) choice. Even 사바사 has a majority vote. If you have a sharper definition, add it to the 사바사 entry in the dictionary.