The Finger heart, also called Korean finger heart gesture, is a trend that was popularized in South Korea since 1990s in which the index finger and thumb come together like a snap to form a tiny (mini) 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 as "Hand with Index Finger and Thumb Crossed".
In the 1990s, the finger heart gesture was called the "Sosimhan V" (소심한 브이) in Korea. This term was used by Korean baby boomers and Generation X, but as they retired, the MZ generation began to call it the finger heart in the 2000s. By the 2010s, it had become widely accepted in South Korea, and increased its spread to the U.S. and the rest of the world as a part of the Korean Wave. 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.[2] [3] [4] [5]
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.[6]
Though various instances of finger hearts may be found from before 2010 (namely, in K-pop musician G-Dragon's childhood photo[7]), finger hearts are considered to have been first popularized by actress Kim Hye-soo[8] [9] then in the K-pop community by Infinite's Nam Woohyun in 2011.[10] [11] [12]
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.[13]
In 2021 the finger heart was added to Unicode 14.0 and Emoji 14.0 with the codepoint as "Hand with Index Finger and Thumb Crossed".[14]
In Japan, the gesture is also broadly used on Instagram, for example.
