Have you ever had an irresistible urge to squeeze a fluffy puppy or pinch a chubby-cheeked baby, but you couldn't describe the feeling?
There's a word for it: gigil, pronounced “ghee-gill.”
The Oxford English Dictionary added the word last month to describe the feeling people get when they see someone or something cute — “a feeling so intense that it gives us the irresistible urge to tightly clench our hands, grit our teeth, and pinch or squeeze whomever or whatever it is we find so adorable.”
The word, which dates back to 1990, is borrowed from Tagalog, a Filipino language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. It adds new words four times a year.
In English, gigil can be used as a noun to describe the feeling itself and as an adjective to describe the person experiencing the feeling.
While the word is usually positive, it can be used in a negative context in Tagalog, according to Precious Arao, an instructor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Filipino Language and Culture Program.
“It can be used in situations where the person using it may be angry at something or someone,” she said. “Filipino language grammar is heavily inflected.”
She said gigil can turn into a verb in some instances. “Nanggigigil ako sa yo” in Tagalog means “I’m so frustrated with you.”
Arao said it's nice that gigil is being added to the OED because many Tagalog words cannot be translated into English.
