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Gigil, a word from Tagalog, the main language of the Philippines, names a feeling so intense that the body joins in: clenched hands, gritted teeth, trembling, even an urge to pinch or squeeze. Something adorable can trigger it, but so can anger or eagerness. The Oxford English Dictionary added the word in March 2025.

Oxford English Dictionary, March 2025

LanguageMind

The story behind the card

The OED took gigil from Philippine English, where it works as a noun and as an adjective: something adorable can itself be called 'gigil'. Psychology has a name for the cute side of the feeling. In 2015 the psychologist Oriana Aragón and colleagues, writing in Psychological Science, described 'cute aggression': faced with something extremely cute, many people feel an urge to squeeze, pinch or pretend to bite it, with no wish to cause harm. The researchers suggested that this opposite-seeming reaction helps people steady an overwhelming rush of positive feeling, much as some people cry when they are happy. Malay has a related word, geram.

Türkçe oku
Filipinler'in başlıca dili Tagalogcadan gelen gigil, bedene taşacak kadar yoğun bir duygunun adıdır: Eller yumruk olur, dişler sıkılır, insan titrer, bir şeyi sıkıp mıncıklamak ister. Bu duyguyu sevimli bir şey de uyandırabilir, öfke ya da sabırsız bir heves de. Sözcük Mart 2025'te Oxford İngilizce Sözlüğü'ne girdi.
Oxford İngilizce Sözlüğü, Mart 2025

OED gigil sözcüğünü Filipinler İngilizcesinden aldı; orada hem ad hem sıfat olarak kullanılır, yani çok sevimli bir şeyin kendisine de “gigil” denebilir. Psikolojide bu duygunun sevimlilikle ilgili yanının bir adı var. Psikolog Oriana Aragón ve arkadaşları 2015'te Psychological Science dergisinde “sevimlilik saldırganlığı”nı tanımladı: Çok sevimli bir şey gören pek çok insan, hiç zarar vermek istemeden onu sıkmak, çimdiklemek ya da ısırır gibi yapmak ister. Araştırmacılara göre bu zıt görünen tepki, insanın birden yükselen sevinci dengelemesine yardım eder; tıpkı bazılarının mutluluktan ağlaması gibi. Malaycada da benzer bir sözcük var: geram.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Cute aggression
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