Kilig

Meaning: The butterflies-and-shivers feeling of romantic excitement — the giddiness triggered by a crush's attention, a flirty text, or a swoony movie scene.

Language: Filipino

Literally: giddy excitement

Category: Emotion

Origin: Tagalog; a physical-emotional flutter distinct from love itself.

More untranslatable words — Emotion

• Tampo — Pulling back your warmth and affection when you've been hurt — going quiet and distant, h…
• Avos' — A blind, hopeful trust that things will somehow work out on their own — leaving the outco…
• Saudade — A deep, nostalgic yearning for someone or something absent — tinged with the bittersweet…
• Hygge — The warm contentment of simple, cozy pleasures shared with people you love — candles, bla…
• Schadenfreude — The guilty little pleasure of taking satisfaction in someone else's misfortune.
• Fernweh — An aching longing for far-off places you've never been — the opposite of homesickness.

More Filipino untranslatable words

• Gigil — The overwhelming urge to squeeze or pinch something unbearably cute.

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