Have you ever felt an overwhelming urge to aggressively squeeze a baby’s cheeks or hug a fluffy dog because of their cuteness? Well, that’s what being gigil feels like, and now it has been officially included in the Oxford English Dictionary.
According to the dictionary, gigil functions as both a noun and an adjective, defining it as “an intense feeling caused by anger, eagerness, or the pleasure of seeing someone or something cute or adorable.”
It also added that this overwhelming feeling can be physically manifested by “the tight clenching of hands, gritting of the teeth, trembling of the body, or the pinching or squeezing of the person or thing causing this emotion.”
Taken from the Filipino language, the first use of the word “gigil” has been dated back to 1990.
“Gigil is a pithy name for such a strange, paradoxical emotion, and apart from its use as a noun, it can also be employed as an adjective to describe the person experiencing it,” the OED said. “So, if a Filipino says they’re gigil, they’re just dealing with overwhelming feelings (usually positive).”
Gigil isn’t the only Filipino word added to the dictionary’s list of untranslatable words.
Other Filipino words included were salakot, a lightweight cone shaped-hat that’s worn by farmers; kababayan, a sweet bread found in bakeries that’s reminiscent of a muffin; the Filipino spring roll lumpia; videoke, a Filipino version of karaoke; sando, a sleeveless clothing; load; CR; and Thomasite, an American teacher in the Philippines during the former’s colonization from 1899 to 1946.
As part of its latest update, the OED also added words and phrases from Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, and Ireland.
“No word is entirely untranslatable, especially in the hands of a skilled translator, who can use various strategies to express something from a source language that has no direct equivalent in the target language,” said the OED. “Often, when we talk about untranslatable words, what we are actually talking about are words that have been lexicalized in one language but not in others, which is what makes them particularly intriguing.”
“After all, wouldn’t it be useful for English speakers to have a specific word for sunlight dappling through leaves, just like speakers of Japanese do? Or a particular word for the action of sitting outside enjoying a beer, like the one Norwegians have?” it added.
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