Korean Blood Type Personality: Types, Compatibility and What to Say When Asked

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Last updated: 30 October 2026 (belief, preference and dating figures re-read from Gallup Korea's own 2023 cross-tabulation report)

Short answer: what is Korean blood type personality? Korean blood type personality (혈액형 성격설, hyeoraekyeong seonggyeokseol) is the popular idea that your ABO blood type shapes your character. In the folk version, type A is careful and timid, B is free-spirited (and, for men, a "bad boyfriend"), O is outgoing, and AB is "either a genius or a fool". It is not a fringe belief: in Gallup Korea's February 2023 survey of 1,501 adults, 57% said personality differs by blood type. Among those believers, 36% said it is worth considering when choosing a partner. Science does not back it. A Japanese and US analysis of about 10,000 people found blood type explained less than 0.3% of personality differences. So expect the question "혈액형이 뭐예요?" ("What's your blood type?"), answer it lightly, and do not take the verdict personally.

For the wider rules of Korean small talk, see EpicKor's guide to living in Korea as a foreigner. For how dates are set up, see the Korean dating culture guide.

What to Say When Someone Asks Your Blood Type

The question usually comes early: on a 소개팅 (sogaeting, a set-up date), at a team dinner, or from a new friend once the age question is out of the way. It is rarely hostile. It is a way to say "tell me what you are like" without asking it outright, and the usual next move is for the other person to tell you what your type "means" and see if you agree.

Korean reads the letters in English: A형 is 에이형 (ei-hyeong), B형 is 비형 (bi-hyeong), O형 is 오형 (o-hyeong) and AB형 is 에이비형 (eibi-hyeong). 형 (hyeong) means "type".

Three ways to handle it well:

• Play along, then ask. "저는 B형이에요. B형은 어때요?" ("I'm B. What are B types like?") lets the other person do the talking, which is the point of the question.
• Laugh off a bad verdict. If you are type B and get "아, 그래서…" ("ah, that explains it"), you are being teased, not judged. Most believers do not take it further than that: in Gallup's 2023 survey, 64% of them said blood type does not matter at all when choosing a partner.
• Push back only when it is serious. If someone uses blood type to rule you out for a job, a team or a relationship, it is fair to say calmly that you do not see people that way. In Japan the word bura-hara ("blood harassment") exists for exactly this, and the same courtesy applies in Korea.

If you do not know your type, you are in a tiny minority in Korea. Only 0.2% of adults did not know or declined to answer in Gallup Korea's 2023 survey. "I don't know" is a perfectly good answer. If you would rather know before the trip, ask your doctor, check old medical or blood donation records, or use a home test.

The Four Types: What Each Label Means in Korea

The stereotypes vary by source, but a few lines turn up again and again in Korean jokes, webtoons and variety shows. These are the ones most people will recognise.

A and B carry the sharpest images. A 2005 Yonsei University study of 204 students, published in the Korean Journal of Social and Personality Psychology, found that self-ratings on the stereotype words differed by blood type, most clearly for A and B. Type B's reputation is the one with real social weight, helped along by a hit 2005 film about a "B-type boyfriend" (more below).

Two things to keep in mind. First, the labels are not symmetrical: O is flattering, B is not. That is why a B-type visitor gets more ribbing than an O. Second, people use the labels about themselves too. "제가 A형이라서…" ("because I'm an A…") is a common way to excuse being anxious or fussy. It works as a soft apology, not a confession.

The Blood Type Compatibility Chart Koreans Quote

Compatibility (궁합, gunghap) is where the belief gets its staying power, because it turns four types into sixteen pairings to argue about. There is no single official chart; magazines, blogs and apps all score pairs differently. What we can measure is which pairings people say they like, and what real couples look like.

In a November 2012 poll of 650 students and office workers in their 20s to 40s, run by the contest portal Thinkgood (씽굿) and the job portal Scout (스카우트), these were the pairings people picked as the best match:

Only the A + O reason comes from the poll. The other lines in the right-hand column are our reading of the four stereotypes above, combined. Take them as conversation, not prediction.

Now the reality check. In 2014 the matchmaking company Duo (듀오) looked at 3,000 couples, 6,000 members who had married within the previous three years. Same-type couples were 28% of the total (839 pairs). The most common same-type pair, A with A (350 couples), was about what chance alone would produce in a country where A is the biggest group. Duo's conclusion was that blood type had no effect on who married whom. YTN reported that Gallup Korea's 2023 survey found no notable link between husbands' and wives' blood types among 966 married respondents.

What to do with this: if a date brings up your "compatibility", ask what the chart says, then trade MBTI types. You will have had the conversation the question was meant to start.

Where the Question Comes Up: Dating, Work, TV and K-pop

Dating. This is the main stage. Gallup's 2023 figures show women believers more likely than men to say blood type should count in choosing a partner, 41% against 30%. On a set-up date, the question usually comes up as banter, alongside age, job and MBTI.

Work. At a team dinner or in a new office, blood type is small talk. It should not be part of any decision about you. If a colleague says "you're so A", they mean you double-check things.

Webtoons. Park Dong-seon's cartoon 혈액형에 관한 간단한 고찰 ("A Simple Thought on Blood Types") began in 2004 as blood type gags he posted on his Cyworld mini-homepage and blog. It acts out everyday situations with characters for each type. Sodam Publishing (소담출판사) brought it out as a book in 2009, and publishing deals for China, Taiwan and Thailand were reported at the book launch.

K-pop profiles. Idol profiles often list blood type next to the birthday. On TWICE's official Japanese site, for example, the profile of every one of the nine members lists 生年月日 (date of birth) and 血液型 (blood type).

Korea's Blood Type Numbers

Korea's split is unusual by Western standards. Type A is the largest group, and almost one Korean in nine is AB. In Gallup Korea's 2023 sample, respondents named A (34%), O (28%), B (26%) and AB (11%). As a comparison, Gallup lists the 2016 and 2022 distribution from the military draft physical (병역판정검사): A 35%, O 27%, B 27% and AB 11%. The two sources agree within a point or two.

That near-universal knowledge is why the question works. Gallup found 5% of adults did not know or declined to give their blood type in 2002. That fell to 2% in 2012, under 1% in 2017 and 0.2% in 2023. When everyone knows their letter, it is a safe, ready-made topic. When a visitor does not know theirs, it is a small culture shock on both sides.

What the Science Says

The research is clear and has been for decades: blood type does not predict personality in any useful way.

• The big one. Kengo Nawata's 2014 paper in the Japanese Journal of Psychology re-analysed three large random-sample surveys: Japan 2004 (about 2,900 people), Japan 2005 (about 3,600) and the US 2004 (about 3,000). Of 68 survey items, 65 showed no significant difference between blood types. Blood type explained less than 0.3% of the variation. The title is the finding: "No relationship between blood type and personality."
• Big Five tests. Studies using the standard five-factor personality inventory, including Cramer and Imaike (2002) and Rogers and Glendon (2003), both in Personality and Individual Differences, found no significant relationship either.
• The Korean study that explains the belief. The 2005 Yonsei study by Cho So-hyun, Suh Eun-kook and Noh Yeon-jung found no meaningful relationship between blood type and the Big Five. But when students rated themselves on the stereotype words themselves, a pattern appeared. It was strongest in people who believed the theory most. In other words, believers describe themselves the way their type is "supposed" to be. That self-fulfilling loop is why the theory feels true to the people who hold it.

Gallup Korea's own 2023 survey adds a neat footnote. It asked respondents to pick between two descriptions of an outgoing person and a reserved one, without naming them. Every blood type split close to half and half: O 53% outgoing, B 52%, A 47%, AB 45%. "Sociable O" and "timid A" sit a few points apart, not worlds apart.

So the fair summary is: it is a social game with no predictive power. Do not use it, or let anyone use it, to judge trust, hiring, health or a relationship.

Where the Belief Came From: Japan in 1927 to a Korean Hit Film in 2005

The idea is not Korean. It came from Japan.

• 1927, Tokyo. Furukawa Takeji, a professor at Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School, published 「血液型による気質の研究」 ("A Study of Temperament by Blood Type") in the journal 心理学研究 (Psychological Research). His 1927 data came from relatives and colleagues, not a representative sample; he added students from the school in 1928.
• 1971, the pop version. Nomi Masahiko, a writer and radio scriptwriter, published 『血液型でわかる相性』 ("Compatibility You Can Read from Blood Type"). This book turned blood type into the mass-market personality and compatibility game known today.
• 2002, Korea at its peak. In its 2002 survey, Gallup Korea found 67% of Korean adults said personality differs by blood type.
• 2005, the film. 《B형 남자친구》 (My Boyfriend Is Type B), directed by Choi Seok-won, who co-wrote it, opened on 3 February 2005. Lee Dong-gun played an eccentric type-B boyfriend and Han Ji-hye a timid type-A college student. It reportedly drew more than 500,000 admissions in its first week and about 1.2 million by its second week (Lady Kyunghyang), and it helped popularise "B-type man" as a Korean dating meme.

Since then belief has drifted down rather than vanished: 67% in 2002 and 2012, 58% in 2017 and 57% in 2023.

Blood Type or MBTI: What Young Koreans Use Now

If the question you get is "MBTI 뭐예요?", that is the same game in a newer form. Korean media have described MBTI as the personality test young Koreans now reach for, and blood type as the older craze before it. Gallup's data adds a twist: belief in blood types among people aged 19–29 (57%) is no lower than among those over 60 (56%). Young Koreans may talk about MBTI more, but they have not stopped believing in blood type.

Why MBTI took over is easy to see. It has 16 types instead of four, you get your result from a quiz, and it fits on a social media bio. Psychologists criticise MBTI too, but that is another article. For a visitor, the practical point is simple: know your blood type and your four MBTI letters. Between them, you are ready for most first meetings in Korea.

FAQ about Korean blood type personality

Q: Do Koreans really believe blood type decides personality? More than half (57%) do, at least a little. In Gallup Korea's 2023 survey, 57% said personality differs by blood type, but only 5% said it differs "a lot". Most treat it the way many Westerners treat star signs.

Q: What is the best blood type match in Korea? In folk terms, A + O. It was the top pick (27.6%) in a 2012 poll of 650 people. Real marriage data from the matchmaker Duo (3,000 couples) and from Gallup Korea showed no link between blood type and who marries whom.

Q: Why is type B seen as bad in Korea, especially for men? The "B-type man" stereotype casts him as passionate but selfish and unreliable. The 2005 hit film My Boyfriend Is Type B helped popularise it. It is a joke, not a judgment.

Q: What is the most common blood type in Korea? Type A. The 2016 and 2022 draft-exam figures Gallup lists for comparison are A 35%, O 27%, B 27% and AB 11%. Gallup's 2023 survey found almost the same split.

Q: Is it rude to ask someone's blood type in Korea? No. It is ordinary small talk, and you can ask back. It becomes rude only when someone uses the answer to judge or exclude a person.

Q: How do I say my blood type in Korean? Say "저는 A형이에요" (jeoneun ei-hyeong-ieyo), swapping in 비형 (B), 오형 (O) or 에이비형 (AB). If you do not know it, say "제 혈액형을 몰라요" (je hyeoraekyeong-eul mollayo).

Q: Is there any scientific evidence for blood type personality? No useful evidence. The largest analysis, of about 10,000 people in Japan and the US, found blood type explained less than 0.3% of personality differences. Big Five studies, including a Korean one, found no meaningful link.

Sources

• Gallup Korea (한국갤럽), 「혈액형 성격설 관련 인식 2002년, 2012년, 2017년, 2023년 [교차집계표]」, Gallup Report G20231019, fieldwork 10–28 February 2023, 1,501 adults nationwide excluding Jeju, CAPI interviews, ±2.5 points at 95%: belief 57% (5% + 52%), trend 67% / 67% / 58%, by age, own blood type split, 병역판정검사 split for 2016 and 2022, favourite type among 855 believers, 36% consider in partner choice, spouses' types (no conclusion in the tables; the "no notable link" reading is YTN's), self-rated extroversion by type. Gallup Korea report (PDF, Korean)
• YTN, report on the Gallup Korea blood type survey (20 October 2023). YTN (Korean)
• Kengo Nawata, "No relationship between blood type and personality: Evidence from large-scale surveys in Japan and the US", Japanese Journal of Psychology 85(2), 148–156 (2014). J-STAGE · PubMed abstract
• 조소현·서은국·노연정 (Cho, Suh and Noh), 「혈액형별 성격특징에 대한 믿음과 실제 성격과의 관계」, Korean Journal of Social and Personality Psychology 19(4), 33–47 (2005). AccessON (Korean)
• Cramer and Imaike, "Personality, blood type, and the five-factor model", Personality and Individual Differences 32(4), 621–626 (2002), doi 10.1016/S0191-8869(01)00064-2. DOI link
• Rogers and Glendon, "Blood type and personality", Personality and Individual Differences 34(7), 1099–1112 (2003). ScienceDirect
• 산업일보 (kidd.co.kr), 「성공하는 혈액형 따로 있다?」, on the Thinkgood and Scout poll of 650 people, 1–11 November 2012: A + O best match 27.6%. kidd.co.kr (Korean)
• 동행미디어 시대 (sidae.com), 「A형 끼리는 끌려…혈액형 궁합 정말 있을까?」, on Duo's analysis of 3,000 married couples (13 October 2014). sidae.com (Korean)
• Furukawa Takeji, 「血液型による気質の研究」, 心理学研究 (1927). Japanese Wikipedia: 古川竹二
• Nomi Masahiko, 『血液型でわかる相性』, Seishun Shuppansha (1971). Japanese Wikipedia: 能見正比古
• My Boyfriend Is Type B (B형 남자친구), release date and credits. Wikipedia; first- and second-week admissions: Lady Kyunghyang (Korean), 1 March 2005
• Maeil Shinmun (매일신문) on Park Dong-seon starting his blood type cartoons on Cyworld and his blog in 2004. imaeil.com (Korean)
• Watcha Pedia book page for 혈액형에 관한 간단한 고찰 (Sodam Publishing, 2009), with the China, Taiwan and Thailand publishing deals reported at launch. pedia.watcha.com
• TWICE official Japanese site, member profiles with date of birth and blood type (checked 30 October 2026). twicejapan.com
• On bura-hara and the history of the theory. Wikipedia: Blood type personality theory
• Korea JoongAng Daily, "[WHY] Blood types, palm reading, now MBTI: Korea's love for categorizing" (2022). Korea JoongAng Daily
• The Korea Times, "Personality tests become hugely popular among young Koreans" (30 August 2022). The Korea Times