synonym of 미국(美國) (Miguk, “America, United States of America (a country in North America)”)
köken: Originally a Sino-Korean word from 天朝 (“Celestial Empire”) + 國 (“country”), with the implied criticism that South Korea is a self-deprecating vassal state of America in the same way that dynastic Korea used to revere China as the Empire of Heaven. Now generally reinterpreted as a Sino-Korean word from 千兆 (“quadrillion”) + 國 (“country”), satirizing the fact that the United States military budget,…