A forehead kiss is a social

kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

ing

gesture A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or ot ...

to indicate

friendship Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. In some cultures, the concept o ...

and/or to denote comforting someone. A forehead kiss is a sign of adoration and affection. In some Arabic cultures, the forehead kiss is a gesture of apology as well as a sign of acknowledgment of grievance on the part of the person being kissed. In the Middle Eastern countries such as

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, a kiss on the forehead is usually a sign of respect to elders when they are getting kissed by the younger ones. Other regions where the forehead kiss has been noted is in Kurdish societies wherein it is usually the older person kissing the younger person on the forehead. Likewise, the forehead kiss is a more acceptable, and subtle,

public display of affection Public displays of affection (PDA) are acts of physical intimacy in the view of others. What is an acceptable display of affection varies with respect to culture and context. Some organizations have rules limiting or prohibiting public displa ...

. It allows for emotion and passion to be passed from one partner to another, without involving the eyes of those around them like other public displays of affection would. However, it has been argued that the act of kissing a person's forehead is not romantic. Instead, such an act is purely neutral and should not be used when trying to transfer feelings of passion, lust or

romantic love Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a Interpersonal attraction, strong attraction towards another person, and the Courtship, courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant emot ...

. It has been said to lack certain qualities that make other kisses more romantic and therefore should not be thought of as a gesture for expressing non-platonic love. It is even stated that the kiss is used as a means of imposing distance in certain situations.

Use in media

The forehead kiss has been used in many different forms of media. In the

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

medium, the forehead kiss exists in

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

, science thriller, and other genres. Likewise, if someone is in search of a meaningful quote regarding forehead kisses and what they can represent, searching on

Pinterest Pinterest is an American image sharing and social media service designed to enable saving and discovery of information (specifically "ideas") on the internet using images, and on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos, in the form of pinboard ...

will reveal a myriad of choices; all of which, seem to tackle a different sector of the forehead kiss. In its use here, sector is referring to the different meanings the kiss can have, like friendship, love, and non-sexual attachment.

References

Gestures Kissing {{comm-stub

Use in media

See also

References