· Slangdunk Editors
What does 흑역사 (heugyeoksa) mean? How a Gundam war record became your old photos
흑역사 (heugyeoksa, literally “black history”) means an embarrassing past you'd rather hide. It comes from the 1999 anime ∀ Gundam and has traveled through the internet all the way to Korea's National Assembly.
At a glance
- Meaning
- A past so embarrassing you'd rather hide it: old failures and mistakes you wince at.
- Origin
- In the 1999 Japanese anime ∀ Gundam, it was the name given to the sealed record of past space wars (Electronic Times, Asia Economy).
- Shift
- A proper noun among anime fans became “embarrassing past” as it moved across the internet. Korean variety shows started using it in the early 2010s.
- In English
- “Embarrassing past” or “a dark chapter in my life” come close. Translating it as “black history” means something else entirely.
One of our editors recently remembered the password to their college blog. Three seconds later they were looking for the delete-account button. They hadn't known that an anime had supplied a word for those posts 26 years ago.
27 years of 흑역사, step by step
1999
A sealed record in the Gundam universe
∀ Gundam airs. The show groups an era of endless space war under the name 흑역사. Asia Economy says director Yoshiyuki Tomino used it to embrace the earlier series.
Early 2010s
Into variety-show captions
According to Choi Yu-kyung's column in Newswatch, variety shows began using it little by little, until it became an ordinary word on network TV.
July 2011
A newspaper files it under “internet idiom”
The Electronic Times noted that as the anime-community proper noun spread online, its Gundam meaning faded and “embarrassing past” remained.
June 2016
A word gets a card-news feature
Asia Economy ran a card-news piece on it, arguing that the memories you'd like to erase are part of your history too.
Around 2020
In a regulator's decision
Money Today reports that the Korea Communications Standards Commission used the word in its penalty decision over vote-rigging on Produce 101.
2021
All the way to the National Assembly
Then-National Intelligence Service director Park Jie-won referred to a “special law to resolve the 흑역사 of 60 years of illegal surveillance” at the intelligence committee, Money Today reported.
What does 흑역사 (heugyeoksa) mean?
흑역사
A past you'd rather hide: old embarrassments, failures and mistakes. Used for people, and also for the years that companies, institutions and creative works would like to forget.
In Korean: 떠올리면 부끄러워서 감추고 싶은 과거나 예전의 실패, 실수. 사람뿐 아니라 기업, 기관, 작품의 지우고 싶은 시절에도 쓴다.
- 고등학교 때 쓴 일기 찾았는데 이건 그냥 흑역사 전집이다Found my high school diary. It's the complete works of 흑역사.A box found while moving
- 제발 그 노래방 영상 좀 지워 줘. 내 인생 최대의 흑역사야Please delete that karaoke video. It's the biggest 흑역사 of my life.An alumni group chat
- 그 회사 입장에선 이 제품이 흑역사겠지만 나는 아직도 잘 쓴다The company probably sees this product as its 흑역사, but I still use mine.A secondhand sale review
- 그 시절 머리 모양은 우리 팀 공식 흑역사로 지정합니다That haircut is hereby our team's official 흑역사.A photo reveal at a work dinner
Do I have a 흑역사?
The Electronic Times named 리즈 시절, your “glory days,” as the opposite of 흑역사: the other end of the same life. Tick the items below just for fun. If most of the evidence dates from your teens, see the 중2병 (jung-i-byeong, “eighth-grade syndrome”) entry too.
Do I have a 흑역사? Tick the ones that apply
0 of 5 checked
A clean past. Or one that hasn't been excavated yet.
흑역사 (heugyeoksa): frequently asked questions
Q. What does 흑역사 mean?
A past so embarrassing you'd rather hide it: old failures and mistakes. It's also used for the years a company or creative work would like to forget.
Q. Where does 흑역사 come from?
From the 1999 Japanese anime ∀ Gundam, where it named the sealed record of past space wars. The Japanese word is 黒歴史 (kurorekishi).
Q. What's 흑역사 in English?
“Embarrassing past” or “a dark chapter in my life.” Don't say “black history,” which in the US means the history of Black Americans.
Q. What's the opposite of 흑역사?
The Electronic Times named 리즈 시절, your “glory days.”
Q. How do you get over a 흑역사?
There's no single answer. Asia Economy's piece suggested accepting it as part of your experience rather than trying to erase it. If it's something online that worries you, check each service's deletion process first.
So 흑역사 originally named the record of a humanity that couldn't stop fighting. By comparison, our editor's college blog is minor. The delete button hasn't been pressed yet. For the feeling right after a cringe moment, see 현타 (hyeonta). And if you have a sharper definition, add it to the 흑역사 entry in the dictionary.
Sources
- Electronic Times — [인터넷 이디엄] <52> 흑역사 (黑歷史) (Han Se-hee, Jul 21, 2011, in Korean)
- Asia Economy — [카드뉴스]'흑역사'는 어두운 역사만이 아니다? (Park Chung-hoon, Lee Jin-kyung, Jun 28, 2016, in Korean)
- Money Today — 부끄러운 과거, 왜 흑역사라고 할까[샷집] (Choi Woo-young, May 30, 2024, in Korean)
- Newswatch — [최유경의 알쏭달쏭 일본어 203] 흑역사 속 검정은 두려움이다 (Feb 13, 2025, in Korean)
- Namuwiki — 흑역사 (in Korean)
See ‘흑역사’ in the dictionary — more definitions, examples, and your own take.
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