So what’s the word “Hung” about?- 夯，this is not pronounced as “da li”-大力 as it appeared to be, which in fact it is pronounced as “hang1” in hanyupinyin. This is an internet phenomenal word widely used by Taiwanese to describe something that is very popular, current trending or ‘Hot’ stuff. For instance, if you hear them saying “最近這個品牌正夯呢“ [which means that this brand has recently became very popular and many people have been discussing about it.] ; “這部是夯劇” – [meaning this drama is incredibly popular].
There’s another saying on the origin for this specially designed word in Taiwan. Apart from Mandarin language , Taiwanese do constantly converse in 閩南語 to an extent which sounds like a dialect language – Hokkien (a Southern Fujian language mostly communicated by people in Guangdong, Hainan and Southeast Asia region like Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia). The 閩南語 pronunciation of the word “紅” is very akin to “夯”, Hence, the netizens came up with this wonderful term “夯” to describe something that is vogue, popular and trending.
Don’t worry guys , it’s never too late to explore new words/terms, especially the ones that you don’t find them in Dictionary or Encyclopedia!
So… Let’s Hung in this exciting journey with us!