The Chinese word tiánmiànjiàng (甜麵醬) consists of characters meaning "sweet" (甜), "flour" (麵), and "sauce" (醬).

[3] One theory is that it derived from the word cheomjang (첨장), which is the Korean reading of the Chinese characters 甛醬.

In Korea, chunjang (춘장) is most commonly used to make jajang (자장), a black gravy served with a popular noodle dish called jajangmyeon.

In most Korean-Chinese restaurants, raw onions, chunjang, and danmuji (yellow pickled radish) are the basic side dishes.

Korean chunjang is similar to the Shandong-style tiánmiànjiàng, as it was first used in Incheon Chinatown, where the majority of restaurants were run by Chinese immigrants from Shandong.