내 최애는 막내야

The line, explained

If you have spent any time in K-pop fandom, you know the question that comes up within five minutes of meeting another fan: who is your bias? In Korean, that is 최애 누구야? And the answer might be this line: 내 최애는 막내야, my bias is the maknae. It is slang, but very friendly slang, and you will hear it from fans, idols and even variety show hosts.

최애 is short for 최고로 애정하는, roughly most dearly loved. 최 means most, the same 최 as in 최고 (the best), and 애 means love. Put together, it means your absolute favorite, the one you would pick first. Fans use it for members, but it has spread everywhere: 최애 노래 (favorite song), 최애 드라마, 최애 라면. If you love it the most, it is your 최애.

The romanization choe-ae looks tricky, but it is easy to say: roughly chweh-eh. In the sentence it is followed by 는, the topic marker, because we are setting up what we want to talk about: as for my favorite. 내 in front means my, so 내 최애는 is as for my number one. Then comes the reveal, the part everyone is waiting for.

막내 means the youngest, in a family or in a group, and every K-pop fan knows it as maknae. The spelling has ㄱ but it sounds like mang-nae, because ㄱ softens to ㅇ before ㄴ. 야 at the end is the casual way to say is. After a word ending in a vowel you use 야; after a consonant you use 이야. So 막내야, but 리더야 too, and a name like 지민 becomes 지민이야.

Fans also have 차애, your second favorite, for when one member is not enough, and 최애곡, favorite track. Saying 최애 sounds playful and warm, never rude, so you can use it with anyone in the fandom. Try swapping the answer in this line: 내 최애는 리더야 means my bias is the leader, and 내 최애는 너야 is a sweet thing to say to a friend.