The ILY is a common sign in deaf culture meaning, "I Love You" (informal). The ILY is a sign from

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ...

which, as a gesture, has moved into the mainstream. Seen primarily in the United States and other Americanized countries, the sign originated among deaf schoolchildren using

to create a sign from a combination of the signs for the letters I, L, and Y (I Love You). I+L+Y=ILYsign.png, production ILY Sutton.svg, SignWriting transcription ase-ILY@Side-PalmForward-ASLwrite.svg,

ASLwrite ASLwrite (ASL: ) is a writing system that developed from si5s. It was created to be an open-source, continuously developing orthography for American Sign Language (ASL), trying to capture the nuances of ASL's features. ASLwrite is currently ...

transcription The sign is an informal expression of any of several positive feelings, ranging from general esteem to love, for the recipient of the sign. A similar-looking but unrelated variation (thumb toward the palm rather than thumb extended, although the thumbs extended version is also used in heavy metal.) appears in

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

culture as a "horns" hand-sign and in

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

as a sign of support for various teams including the University of Texas. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Ragin' Cajuns Athletics uses the ILY sign to symbolize the initials of the university (UL).

History

''Deaf Heritage'' dates the origin of the ILY to 1905. The sign received significant media exposure with Richard Dawson's use of the ILY in his sign off from each episode of the '' Family Feud'', which he hosted from 1976 to 1985. Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter reportedly picked it up from a group of deaf supporters in the Midwest and, in 1977, during his Inauguration Day parade, flashed the ILY to a group of deaf people on the sidewalk. The character was added to the Unicode standard in version 11.0, released June 2018. This followed a campaign to have several common signs added to the

Unicode Character Set Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, whic ...

.https://unicode.org/L2/L2016/16308-more-hand-gestures.pdf

In popular culture

upGene Simmons showing the ILY sign at a fashion show, 2012 Popular 80s professional wrestler Jimmy Snuka would frequently flash the ILY sign with both hands during his matches and interviews, including while standing on the top rope before delivering his finishing move "Superfly Splash". The ILY sign is used by

Doctor Strange Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorce ...

as a means to cast his mystical spells.

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; he, חיים ויץ, ; born August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-American musician. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the hard rock band he co-founded with Paul ...

of the rock band Kiss has used the symbol in photoshoots, concerts and public appearances since 1974. He has stated in a television interviews that he was a Marvel comics fan, and was inspired by the

use of the symbol to use it himself in photoshoots. He later (by 1976 or earlier) had black gloves made that lacked index and pinky fingers so that even his raised open hand would emulate the ILY sign. The ending pose of the popular

K-pop K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gos ...

song " Boy With Luv" by BTS also incorporates this sign with all the members turning around and raising their right hands in this sign. Throughout the

song "

Fancy Fancy may refer to: Places * Fancy, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a settlement * Fancy River, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Music Albums * ''Fancy'' (Bobbie Gentry album), 1970 * ''Fancy'' (Idiot Flesh album), 1997 * ''Fancy'' (video ...

", the members of the girl group Twice do this gesture when dancing. In the anime Love Live!, Nico Yazawa has a catchphrase ''nico nico nii'', and has her own action with it, which incorporates the symbol. The ILY sign is also a part of th
choreography
for the song "CASE 143" by Stray Kids (with "143" as a code for "I love you"). It's the title song of their new EP ''MAXIDENT'' in which they are referencing love as a "maximum accident".

References

{{sign language Hand gestures Love American Sign Language