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Hand gestures

🤌

What the hands say

Hand gestures

So much meaning travels without words. A few gestures will help you read a room — and avoid the handful that accidentally offend.

🤌
“Wait / take it easy”
Fingertips and thumb pinched together, pointing up, bounced gently.
Means “hold on a moment / patience / slow down.” One of the most-used gestures — friendly, not rude.
🙆
Saying “no”
A single upward tilt of the head and eyebrows, often with a soft tongue-click (“tsk”).
This is a normal, polite “no” — not the dismissal it can feel like to Westerners.
👋
“Come here”
Hand out, palm facing down, fingers scratching toward you.
Palm-up beckoning (the Western way) is for animals and can offend — always palm-down.
🤚
The right hand
Eat, give, receive and shake with the right hand.
The left hand is considered unclean. Hand money, food or business cards with the right (or both).
🫱
Hand on the heart
After a handshake or a thank-you, a touch of the hand to the chest.
“From the heart” — sincerity and warmth. Some people (often women) offer this instead of a handshake; follow their lead.
🖐️
“Five in your eye”
Palm pushed outward, fingers spread — the khamsa.
Wards off the evil eye. Half-joking, half-serious, often with “khamsa fī ʻēnak.”
👟
Mind your feet
Don’t show the sole of your foot or point at things (or people) with it; keep feet off chairs and tables.
Feet are the lowest, least clean part — pointing a sole at someone is a real insult.
👍
Thumbs-up, carefully
Widely fine today, especially among the young.
In some older or rural settings it once read as rude — a small thing to be aware of, rarely an issue now.
When in doubt, mirror the people around you. Warmth, patience and a hand on the heart carry further than any single gesture.