page_title: Fig sign
hierarchical_section_title: Fig sign
caption_attribution_description: English: Gesture fist with thumb through fingers. The "fig sign" is an ancient gesture with many uses, including fingerspelling the letter T in American Sign Language. Português: Mão fazendo o gesto de figa.
context_page_description: The fig sign is a mildly obscene gesture used at least since the Roman Age in Italy and Southern Europe and parts of the Mediterranean region, including in Turkish culture, and has also been adopted by Slavic cultures. The gesture uses a thumb wedged in between two fingers. This gesture is most commonly used to ward off the evil eye, insult someone, or deny a request.
  Because of its origins in Southern Europe or Latin Europe, the gesture was imported to Latin America. In Brazil, use of this gesture is said to ward off evil eye, jealousy, etc. Ornaments with this symbol are often worn as a good luck charm.
  In ancient Rome, the fig sign, or manu fica, was made by the pater familias to ward off the evil spirits of the dead as a part of the Lemuria ritual.
  The hand gesture may have originated in ancient Indian culture to depict the lingam and yoni.
  Among early Christians, it was known as the manus obscena, or "obscene hand".
  The letter "T" in the American manual alphabet is very similar to this gesture.
context_section_description: The fig sign is a mildly obscene gesture used at least since the Roman Age in Italy and Southern Europe and parts of the Mediterranean region, including in  Turkish culture, and has also been adopted by Slavic cultures. The gesture uses a thumb wedged in between two fingers. This gesture is most commonly used to ward off the evil eye, insult someone, or deny a request.
  Because of its origins in Southern Europe or Latin Europe, the gesture was imported to Latin America. In Brazil, use of this gesture is said to ward off evil eye, jealousy, etc. Ornaments with this symbol are often worn as a good luck charm. 
  In ancient Rome, the fig sign, or manu fica, was made by the pater familias to ward off the evil spirits of the dead as a part of the Lemuria ritual.
  The hand gesture may have originated in ancient Indian culture to depict the lingam and yoni.
  Among early Christians, it was known as the manus obscena, or "obscene hand".
  The letter "T" in the American manual alphabet is very similar to this gesture.
  The word sycophant comes from the Ancient Greek word συκοφάντης (sykophántēs), meaning "one who shows or reveals figs"; though there is no unequivocal explanation as to the reason why sycophants in Ancient Greece were so called, one explanation is that the sycophant, by making false accusations, insulted the defendant in a manner analogous to making the fig sign.
caption: The fig sign
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