· Slangdunk Editors
What does 어그로 (eogeuro) mean? How a monster's threat meter became Korea's word for baiting
어그로 (eogeuro) means deliberately provoking people to get attention, or a post that does it. The British slang word aggro traveled through online games' threat mechanics and became everyday Korean internet talk.
At a glance
- Meaning
- Deliberately provoking or needling people to get attention, or a post that does it. Usually “어그로를 끌다” — to pull aggro.
- Origin
- From the English slang aggro (irritation, provocation). It spread through online games like EverQuest, where “aggro” was the value deciding which player a monster attacks (Game Donga, Namuwiki).
- Related
- Someone who does it is a 어그로꾼 (aggro-maker); the advice not to react is 먹금, “don't feed.”
- In English
- It is English. Online, the closest terms are “trolling” and “rage bait.”
Tom, a friend visiting from London, was reading a Korean forum through a translation app and kept frowning. Every other comment said 어그로. The characters are fictional; every fact in the conversation is sourced.
What does 어그로 (eogeuro) mean? A Korean friend explains
- Tom (29, UK)Jisoo, why do all these comments say “stop pulling 어그로”? Is 어그로 Korean?
- Jisoo (27)It means winding people up on purpose to get attention. If you post something like that, you're “pulling 어그로.”
- Tom (29, UK)Hang on, aggro is ours. Back home aggro means trouble, a bit of a scuffle.
- Jisoo (27)Right, it started as English. Dictionary.com says it's short for aggravation or aggression and was first recorded in the late 1960s.
- Tom (29, UK)So how did it get to Korea?
- Jisoo (27)Through games. Game Donga explains that in online games like EverQuest, the value that decided which player a monster attacked first was called aggro.
- Tom (29, UK)Oh, the tank pulling the monster's attention! I played WoW too.
- Jisoo (27)Exactly. Namuwiki says in Korea it started among EverQuest players and spread widely once WoW took off. Nobody recorded who used it first, or when.
- Tom (29, UK)And outside games?
- Jisoo (27)You pull people's attention instead of a monster's. Clickbait titles, or posting the opposite opinion just to start a fight. Someone who does that is a 어그로꾼.
- Tom (29, UK)So in English that's trolling. Or rage bait, these days.
- Jisoo (27)And rage bait was Oxford's 2025 Word of the Year. The Korea Economic Daily reported its use more than tripled in a year. 어그로 went global.
- Tom (29, UK)So what do you do with an 어그로 post?
- Jisoo (27)[먹금](/w/ko/%EB%A8%B9%EA%B8%88) — don't feed it. No reaction is the best reaction. Which means you can close that comment section now.
어그로
Deliberately provoking or needling people to get attention, or a post that does it. Usually “어그로를 끌다” (to pull aggro); the person is a 어그로꾼. Originally the gaming term for the value deciding whom a monster attacks.
In Korean: 일부러 남을 도발하거나 자극해 관심을 끄는 행동, 또는 그런 글. 원래는 게임에서 몬스터의 공격 대상을 정하는 수치.
- 제목만 보고 들어왔는데 내용이 하나도 없네. 완전 어그로였어I clicked because of the title and there's nothing here. Total 어그로.Comment on a forum post
- 미안하다, 이거 보여주려고 어그로 끌었다Sorry, I pulled 어그로 just to show you this.A famous Korean forum title formula
- 저 사람 또 어그로 끄는 거니까 다들 먹금하자They're pulling 어그로 again, so everyone, don't feed it.Group-chat advice, practically a pinned notice
- 탱커님 어그로 좀 잡아 주세요, 힐러 죽어요Tank, please hold 어그로, the healer's dying.The original meaning, in a raid party chat
- 회의 때 일부러 반대 의견 낸 거야. 어그로 끌어서 다들 깨우려고I disagreed on purpose in the meeting. Pulled 어그로 to wake everyone up.A coworker claiming benevolent aggro
Why has 어그로 stuck around so long?
Because it started as a game term, the picture is instant: like a tank drawing every monster's gaze, an 어그로꾼 draws every eye in the comments. It's three syllables, and adding 끌다 (pull) or 꾼 (-er) gives you the verb and the person. Above all, in an age where attention is views, 어그로 isn't going anywhere — Oxford picking rage bait as its Word of the Year points the same way. Korean internet culture already has the playbook: give a 관종 (attention-seeker) no attention, don't react to 분탕 (thread-wrecking), and if you've been baited anyway, end it with a single 킹받네 (so annoying).
어그로 (eogeuro): frequently asked questions
Q. What does 어그로 mean?
Deliberately provoking or needling people to get attention, or a post that does it. It's usually used as 어그로를 끌다 (to pull aggro), and someone who does it is a 어그로꾼.
Q. What does 어그로 끌다 mean?
To draw people's attention and reactions with a sensational title or a deliberately contrary opinion. It comes from games, where a tank “pulls aggro” to make monsters attack them instead of teammates.
Q. Where does the word 어그로 come from?
From the English slang aggro. Dictionary.com treats it as short for aggravation or aggression, first recorded in the late 1960s. It reached Korea through the “aggro” mechanics of online games like EverQuest and World of Warcraft (Game Donga, Namuwiki). When it was first used in Korean is unconfirmed.
Q. What's 어그로 in English?
Gamers just say aggro. Online, deliberately winding people up is trolling, and content built to make you angry for clicks is rage bait — Oxford's 2025 Word of the Year.
Q. Where can I see the famous 어그로 meme?
The best-known format is a post titled “Sorry, I pulled 어그로 just to show you this,” followed by an unrelated image. We don't reproduce the images for copyright reasons; the MBC video above explains the origin.
So: 어그로 started as British slang, passed through a monster's threat meter, and settled in Korean comment sections. Tom now mutters “don't feed” every time he opens a Korean forum. Whether this article's headline was 어그로, we leave to you. If you have a sharper definition, add it to the 어그로 entry in the dictionary.
Sources
See ‘어그로’ in the dictionary — more definitions, examples, and your own take.
Open the dictionary