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Monday, March 31, 2025
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HomeEntertainmentGigil: New Word in the Dictionary for Extremely Cute

Gigil: New Word in the Dictionary for Extremely Cute

Gigil: New Word in the Dictionary for Extremely Cute

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Have you ever been left speechless by something incredibly cute, like your nephew’s nephew or that cat video you saw on Instagram? Now there’s a word for it: gigil.

Gigil (pronounced gee-gil) is part of a list of “untranslatable” words added to the Oxford English Dictionary, or words that have no English equivalents.

In Tagalog, the language of the Philippines, gigil is “a very strong feeling that gives us an irresistible urge to clench our fists, grit our teeth, and pinch or squeeze anyone we find so dear.”

The list also included alamak, a colloquial expression used in Singapore and Malaysia to express surprise or anger.

“Wouldn’t it be useful for English speakers to have a specific word for sunlight shining through leaves… or for sitting outside enjoying a beer?” the OED said in its latest update.

Speakers of English with other languages ​​fill lexical gaps by “borrowing words that cannot be translated from another language.” When they do this often, the borrowed word “becomes part of their vocabulary,” the OED said.

The majority of the newly added words from Singapore and Malaysia are names for dishes, a testament to the nations’ obsession with food.

Kaya toast, a popular breakfast option of toasted bread spread with jam made from coconut milk, eggs, sugar and pandan leaves; Fish head curry, a dish that combines Chinese and South Indian influences, involves a large fish head cooked in a tamarind-based curry; and steamboat, a dish of thinly sliced ​​meat and vegetables cooked in a boiling broth in a heated pot.

“All this talk of food might tempt one to eat out or have tapau,” said the OED, referring to another new word originating in Mandarin and Cantonese dialects, meaning “to pack or wrap, to take away food.”

Aside from gigil, the newly added Filipino words include the national pastime of videoke, the local version of karaoke that includes a scoring system, and the salakot, a lightweight hat with a wide brim often worn by farmers.

Other Filipino additions include what the OED calls “odd uses of existing English words,” such as horror, sometimes used to describe a teacher who is strict, harsh, or demanding.

The OED contains more than 600,000 words, making it one of the most comprehensive dictionaries in the English-speaking world.

Its editors consider thousands of new word suggestions each year. These come from a variety of sources, including its editors’ own reading, crowdsourced appeals, and analysis of language databases.

Words and phrases from South Africa and Ireland were also part of the OED’s latest update.

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