Hangul syllable Gus

It names a Korean shamanic rite—or, informally, “good!”

Within Korean shamanism, 굿 names a ritual led by a mudang, a Korean shamanic practitioner. It uses offerings, song, dance, and enacted performance; purposes include household welfare, healing, protection, prosperity, mourning, and village safety. Forms vary by region and purpose.

굿 is not simply any prayer. 비손 is a smaller, mostly seated petition; 굿 centers on performed action, music, movement, and a staged relationship between people and spirits.

When does 굿 mean “good”?

A standalone 굿! is informal approval.

This use comes from English good and can mean “nice” or “great.” As of 2026, standalone 굿! is used as brief approval in informal messages.

Inside a ritual compound, the surrounding Korean word signals the ceremony reading. That use belongs to a different history from the English borrowing.

Where did the ritual sense come from?

Written evidence for the ritual noun reaches back to 1459.

The earliest cited written form is Middle Korean 굿〮 in the 1459 text Worin Seokbo. Earlier Korean records mention Yeonggo, Dongmaeng, and Mucheon, but those rites were not the same as the later form of 굿. A 12th-century poem by Yi Gyu-bo, from the Goryeo dynasty, directly describes a recognisable performance.

Communal rites were prominent in the 15th–16th centuries; private healing and curse-removal rites became prominent in the 17th–18th centuries. During the 1960s–1980s, public and academic discourse increasingly framed shamanism as cultural heritage, while practitioners defended it as religion.