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A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication made with a part of the body, used instead of or in combination with verbal communication. The language of gesture allows individuals to express a variety of feelings and thoughts, from contempt and hostility to approval and affection. Most people use gestures and body language in addition to words when they speak. The use of gesture as language by some ethnic groups is more common than in others, and the amount of such gesturing that is considered culturally acceptable varies from one location to the next.

Gestures do not have invariable or universal meanings. Even simple gestures like pointing at someone can give offense if it is not done correctly. In the USA and western European countries it is very common for people to point with an extended finger but in Asia this is considered very rude (see Etiquette in Asia for details) and it is safer to use the whole hand.

Different types of gestures are distinguished. Well-known type of gestures are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures (see the examples below). These are culture-specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words. Communities have repertoires of such gestures. A single emblematic gesture can a have very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive ^[1]

Another type of gestures are the ones we use when we speak. These gestures are closely coordinated with speech. The meaningful part of the gesture is temporally synchronized (that is, occurs at the same time) with the co-expressive parts of speech. For example, a gesture that depicts the act of throwing will be synchronous with the word 'threw' in the utterance "and then he threw the ball right into the window." Other gestures, like the so-called beat gestures, are used in conjunction with speech and keep time with the rhythm of speech to emphasize certain words or phrases. These types of gestures are integrally connected to speech and thought processes. ^[2]

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