Feeling Gigil: A Joyful Dive Into Filipino Language and Culture

I couldn’t let Filipino American History Month pass without celebrating one of my favorite Tagalog words: gigil.

If you’re Filipino, you know exactly what I mean. It’s that feeling when something is so overwhelmingly cute you just want to squeeze it. Very aggressively!!! 😆💛 This is exactly how I look and feel whenever I see my dog. Gigil na gigil!

Earlier this year, gigil was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and as a proud Filipina and lifelong word lover, that felt incredibly special. It’s more than just a word. It’s a piece of our culture, emotion, and identity finding its way into global language.

But that also made me curious: How does a word like gigil — non-English, deeply cultural, and almost impossible to translate — actually make it into an English dictionary?

So I called up my friend John Kelly, who happens to be a lexicographer with amazing experience leading Dictionary.com (yes, he’s a real-life dictionary expert!). John was kind enough to let me record our conversation — mostly because I wanted to share it with my family, friends, and fellow kababayan who would appreciate it just as much as I did. 💛

You can watch the full video here:

What It Takes to Get a Word Into the Oxford English Dictionary

One of the most fascinating parts of my chat with John was learning that the OED doesn’t just add trendy words — it tracks the entire life story of a word. From its origins and cultural context to how it’s actually used in writing, every word that enters the OED must meet strict criteria.

According to John, there are four main criteria a word must meet before it can be added:

• Widespread use – The word must appear across multiple sources and communities, not just on social media or in niche circles.
• Sustained use – It can’t just be a passing fad. The OED team looks for evidence that people have used it consistently over time.
• Meaningful use – The word must have a clear, distinct meaning that adds something new to the language.
• Written evidence – There must be published proof of the word being used in newspapers, books, or online articles.

What’s amazing is that this process can take years, sometimes even decades, as lexicographers collect citations and trace the evolution of meaning. Gigil made it because it’s shown up again and again, not just among Filipinos, but in broader global conversations about culture, emotion, and language.

Why Filipino Words Matter

Our conversation also reminded me of something beautiful: the Tagalog language carries feelings that English sometimes can’t capture.

Words like gigil and kilig (that giddy, excited, heart-fluttering feeling) hold emotional nuances that reveal so much about Filipino values — warmth, empathy, and connection.

John shared that there are already many Filipino words in the OED, and they tell a story of migration, identity, and how language moves with people. But, as John reminded me:

Just because a word isn’t in the dictionary doesn’t mean it’s not a real word. Dictionaries don’t make words real. We speakers make them real. Dictionaries describe language as it changes. 

That said, when you are Filipino, when you are speaking as a first language Tagalog or learning it as a second language as the children of immigrants — when you are underrepresented — when your language and your vocabulary is in the dictionary, something special happens. 

It confers a legitimacy, it confers a reality, it confers a visibility to who you are. And having gotten to run a dictionary and run the people who make it, they take that very, very seriously — to reflect the language of people, to respect how they're using it, and to make sure that everybody is represented in the dictionary.

What Gigil Teaches Us

For me, this conversation was about more than linguistics. It was about representation.

Every time a Filipino word enters global vocabulary, it’s a small but powerful affirmation that our voices and experiences matter.

Language evolves when people use it, and Filipinos all over the world are shaping that evolution. Seeing gigil in the OED is a joyful reminder that our culture isn’t just being preserved — it’s alive, growing, and influencing the way people express emotion everywhere.

Thank you, John, for indulging my curiosity and for helping me share this moment of Filipino pride. 🇵🇭