Origin Story
The bua in buaga chimilda is originally the native Korean word for the lungs (肺) — the breathing organs that sit on either side of the chest. But why would the lungs come to be linked with indignation? When a person is furious, their breath turns rough and short. Breathing quickens, the chest heaves, and one feels as if the lungs themselves are swelling. Our ancestors put this bodily change straight into language. When anger boils up, it seems as though the lungs — the bua — swell and surge, and so they said buaga chimilda ("one's bua surges up"). For this reason bua came to mean not just the organ but the feeling of anger and resentment itself.
Korean often maps emotions onto the body's organs. The ae in "one's ae burns" is the intestines; the gan in "one's gan shrinks to the size of a bean" is the liver, seat of courage. Bua is one of these too — a living expression of Korean's bodily intuition, casting anger as a working of the lungs.
Meaning Evolution
How It Is Used
Listening to his shameless excuses, I felt my anger surge up (bua chimilda).
After being wronged like that, the indignation keeps welling up in me (bua nada).
Try as I might to hold it in, I couldn't stop the anger from rising (bua chimilda).
Related Words
Memory Hook
Picture how, when you're angry, your breath shortens and your chest (the lungs) seems to swell. Those lungs are the bua.
"Anger swells the lungs — and that is why the bua surges up."
