In the course of a handshake or during a casual conversation with someone, a person might deliberately or subconsciously rub your hand with their thumb, and you may be puzzled as to what meaning this particular gesture holds.
In human interaction, there are a plethora of gestures that hold different meanings based on cultural setting, all of which are explainable – including that of when a person rubs your hand with their thumb.
This article gives a clear definition that best interprets for example the true meaning of the gesture if it is done to you by both genders, as well as an elucidated overview of what the person’s intentions towards you are.
10 Possible Meanings When Someone Rubs Your Hand With Their Thumb
- It’s a sign of affection
- It depicts a need for closure
- Wants to get a reaction from you
- Trying to build a bond with you
- Enjoys contact with you
- A Recognition Of Closeness
- An expression of interest
- Probably an initiation to romantic moments together
- Wants to not just be friends alone, but more
- A confirmation of your way of life
Now that you know 10 different possible meanings to why someone may rub your hand with their thumb, it is important to identify which amongst the listed reasons above pertains to you.
The nonverbal language is often misunderstood and misinterpreted by many because it is often difficult to grok the concept of something you are particularly familiar with.
Knowing the different possible meanings of the thumb-rubbing gesture is not enough, you need to understand there are certain indications to this nonverbal means of communication that can be somewhat complex, and you may not find it easy to wrap your head around it and might make a ton of assumptions.
1. It’s A Sign Of Affection
Other than the conventional way of confessing one’s feelings to another by words of mouth, communication has taken a more subtle approach.
If a person rubs your hand with their thumb, he or she is trying to communicate their feelings to you. It’s a way of telling you they like you, and that they are attracted to you.
It doesn’t necessarily translate that their affection for you is something intimate or romantic, it may just mean that they like you the way you are, and they are contented with the kind of relationship between you and them.
The thumb rubbing in this context is more like a friendly gesture and nothing more to it. And as such, too much meaning should not be read meaning to avoid assumptions.
At least, not in all cases.
2. It Depicts A Need For Closure
As you know, there are levels of closeness in your various relationships with people, as every person you interact with is placed in a certain array of preferences, which is largely defined by the extent of cordiality established in your relationship.
The person may want to use a more soft and subtle approach to get closer to you. Since they know you give credence to the thumb-rubbing gesture, they’ll employ it as a tool to get close enough to you, so that can attain the closure they desire.
The person’s intention is simply to get closer to you, but I can’t tell you what goal the person is set to accomplish by getting closer to you, probably something he or feels you can help them achieve, like an ulterior motive, access to a resource or probably their reason is genuine.
As most people have learned to apply tact in their dealings with people to get what they want.
3. Wants To Get A Reaction From You
It doesn’t always mean that when someone rubs your hand with their thumb, he or she is trying to make you decode an encrypted message.
The person just does this as a way of teasing you, without attaching any hidden meaning to it that is out of the ordinary.
It probably uses a playful gesture to get a reaction from you or to gain your attention. And some people do this as a game to know how you’ll interpret their gesture.
4. Trying To Build A Bond With You
A colleague of yours who sees you daily at work, or probably runs into wherever it is he or she frequently hangs out and likes to interact with you almost all the time because you two share a lot of similar interests.
He or she might subconsciously rub your hand with their thumb in the middle of a conversation or probably during a hang-out as an indication that they enjoy your company and relish the idea of getting a little closer to you and sharing more views on a topic of mutual interest.
The person’s motive for this is to try to establish an emotional link or a psychological connection between the both of you that proves you two are in tune.
This colleague of yours wants to have a good relationship with you that moves from being just a colleague to friends of like minds. Other than being just acquaintances he or she wants to create a bond between you two.
There are cases where you and this person might not have much of a similar topic of interest, neither do you share the same views nor ideologies, but the person finds you interesting and is very much interested in getting to be friends with you.
5. Enjoys Contact With You
Another non-intimate interpretation of the thumb-rubbing gesture is that the person simply enjoys having contact with you. The kind of relationship that exists in this context is purely platonic and nothing more.
You and this person in question hang out more often, go out on dates, and engage in different activities together, but you are not dating.
You enjoy holding hands together, hugging each other, and cuddling – doing almost everything couples do, except getting intimate.
He or she might run your hand with their thumb as a symbol that signifies that they enjoy and are comfortable with the contact with you.
6. A Recognition Of Closeness
You should know that not every advance from the opposite gender is aimed directly at getting into a romantic relationship.
The person might just have a particular interest in you and enjoys talking to you because he or she feels you truly understand them.
Although, this talking stage is a prelude to a dating, romantic relationship in most cases.
They have this feeling of openness that allows them to possess the freedom to be themselves whenever they relate with you, and each time they get to speak with you in a heart-to-heart conversation, they recognize a form of closeness.
During a private moment of togetherness, or you guys may be sitting down talking or probably laying down seeing a movie or something, and then the person subsequently reaches out to rub your hand with your thumb, it is a clear recognition of good companionship.
7. An Expression Of Interest
A person may be interested in you, both romantic and intimate but doesn’t know how to confess his or her feelings to you in the right words. He or she may opt for the thumb-rubbing gesture, as a mode of expressiveness.
The person likes you and wants you to know that they are into you. Their plan is to get into a relationship with you.
It is easy to decipher one’s interest for you if your hand was rubbed with their thumb because their frequent behavior towards you ought to give you clues that in a way mirror their intentions.
The person might have occasionally made his intention known to you, but skirts around the topic most of the time, and thinks the best way to tell you is with a thumb-rubbing gesture.
The main objective of the person is to bring to your knowledge their true intentions towards you.
A nonverbal mode of communication is usually employed in a situation like this, because the person is not sure of the kind of response they’d expect from you if you feel the same way for them, and wouldn’t feel a great impact of rejection if you choose to decline their proposal to a relationship.
8. Probably An Initiation To Romantic Moments Together
You are with your spouse staring at each other’s eyes, holding hands, and cuddling; doing all the stuff couples do, and then your spouse reaches out to your hand and rubs it with their thumb.
What this means is that he or she wants to take it a step further with the intention to initiate a romantic moment, but feels a little bit embarrassed to tell you.
It doesn’t always mean that the person feels embarrassed to tell you, it may also mean that at moments like that, which connotes romance, your spouse prefers to speak to you in a nonverbal tone.
He or she might have noticed that you give credence to the gesture as your love language and it turns you on.
9. Wants to not just be friends alone, but more
You and this person might have been friends for quite some time, and during your friendship, he or she has begun to develop feelings for you.
In cases like this, the person probably doesn’t have an idea as regards how he or she should communicate their newly developed feelings to you.
There is a high degree of proximity existing between you two, which makes it difficult for them to start up a conversation with a topic like this as the subject matter.
After thinking long about what to do, he or she had thought it wise to communicate by using the gesture to tell you that they want to take a move out of the just friend’s zone to something more intimate: romantic or intimate.
The possible approach the person took was to arrange a private moment that best suits the nature of the topic, and during the conversation, he or she reaches out to your hand and rubs it with their thumb.
This serves as an introductory gesture that affirms affection before they open up to you and make their intentions known to you.
10. A Confirmation Of Your Way of Life
In a case such as this, it is important to take into account the gender of the person(whatever they choose to identify with), the manner and place the thumb rubbing gesture was done – as these three variables would make it much easier for you to identify the persons true intentions.
If it is quite intimate, then you should know that the person wants to figure out the category of the way of life you choose to identify with.
He or she is trying to gain knowledge concerning your intimate identity, orientation, and receptiveness. It’s more or less of a confirmation to know if you are straight or not.
He or she wants to know what response would be gotten from you if you were given an intimate invite.
Conclusion
With the elaborate citations and clear-cut examples stated in this article, I’m sure you now know and understand different possible reasons why a person rubs your hand with their thumb.
It is best you first make an assessment of the kind of relationship you have with the person, as well as the case scenario and how often the person does this before you come to a conclusion that interprets what the person’s intentions are through the gesture.
Don’t just insinuate or assume that the person is trying to you this or that because he or she rubs your hand with their thumb, try to take cognizance of the person’s body language and attitude toward you.
And even if you are certain that this is what the person is trying to tell you, you should have a conversation with the person telling him or her this is what you think they are trying to tell you.
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