Finger heart

The mini heart gesture is a trend that was popularized in South Korea in which the index finger and thumb come together like a snap to form a tiny heart.[1] The gesture was popularized by K-pop idols, who would often use the gesture to express their love and gratitude to their fans. It is represented in Unicode with the codepoint U+1FAF0 🫰 as "Hand with Index Finger and Thumb Crossed".

Popular usage

K-pop idol performing the finger heart gesture in 2015

Before the appearance of finger hearts, it was common to make small hearts with two hands or to make large hearts by raising and curving both arms above the head. Conventionally, heart gestures using both hands and arms have been performed worldwide, but finger hearts are also called Korean Finger Hearts because of its association with the rise of South Korean pop culture.

In South Korea, it is a known symbol among Korean celebrities (namely actors and singers) and their fans, and is popularly performed using the thumb and index finger.[2]

Though various instances of finger hearts may be found from before 2010 (namely, in K-pop musician G-Dragon's childhood photo[3]), finger hearts are considered to have been first popularized by actress Kim Hye-soo[2][4][5] then in the K-pop community by Infinite's Nam Woohyun in 2011.[6][7][8]

Joe Biden and BTS performing the gesture in 2022

The thumb and index finger gesture has become popular across Asia due to the popularity of K-pop and Korean dramas, and increasingly so in other parts of the world as a factor of the Korean Wave. In K-pop most notably, singers like G-Dragon and PSY plus bands like EXO and BTS have popularized the gesture to a wider international audience.

During the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, The North Face provided gloves with highlighted thumb and index finger sleeves to highlight this symbol.[9]

In 2021 the finger heart was added to Unicode 14.0 and Emoji 14.0 with the codepoint U+1FAF0 🫰 as "Hand with Index Finger and Thumb Crossed".[10]

Japanese actress Mio Kudo performing a fingerheart

In Japan, the gesture is also broadly used on Instagram, for example.

See also

References

  1. ^ Boboltz, Sara (9 February 2018). "Everything You Need To Know About South Korea's Finger Heart Trend". HuffPost. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b "US Olympians Try Their Hands at K-Pop's 'Finger Heart.' What's That?". NBC Chicago. 9 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  3. ^ "Q Dragon Image". hellokpop.com. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  4. ^ White, Adam (16 August 2019). "Finger Hearts: A Brief History of the Korean Trend". Discovery. Cathay Pacific. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  5. ^ "[짤줍] '손가락 하트'의 창시자가 김혜수?". Dispatch (in Korean). 10 June 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  6. ^ "남우현 "손가락하트, 저작권 가능하나"…최화정 "'맛있으면 0칼로리'도"". 뉴스1 (in Korean). 26 October 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  7. ^ "남우현 "'손가락 하트', 내가 유행시켜"". 스타투데이 (in Korean). 4 June 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  8. ^ "'해피투게더' 남우현 "손가락 하트, 내가 원조" [시선강탈]". tvdaily.co.kr. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Five trendy 2018 Winter Olympics K-fashion items to keep you feeling warm and looking cool". South China Morning Post. 6 February 2018.
  10. ^ "🫰 Hand with Index Finger and Thumb Crossed Emoji". Emojipedia. Retrieved 23 April 2023.


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