Work in progress! Native speakers are still checking every phrase. Spot something off? Tell us.
cursing.in curse like a local

Turkish · Hand Gestures · hand gesture

Kafayı geriye atma ('cık')

No. (a silent, complete 'no')

1/5 Grandma-safe

mild, playful; fine on daytime TV

The gesture

"A single upward tilt of the head/chin, eyebrows raised, often with a tongue-click 'tsk' ('cık') and sometimes closed eyes"

What your hand is actually doing.

How to use it

Not rude at all — but the single most disorienting gesture for visitors, so it earns its place. A Turk saying no often just flicks the head UP with raised brows and a soft tongue-click "tsk" ("cık"), which foreigners routinely misread as a nod-yes or a flirty chin-up. Learn it fast or you'll agree to things you meant to decline. A slow side-to-side head-waggle, confusingly, means "I don't understand / what?" rather than "no."

Heard in the wild

Çay ister misin? — (kafayı geriye atar) Cık.

Want some tea? — (tilts head up) Nope.

Where it lands

Turkey-wide; universal

Quick answers

What does "Kafayı geriye atma ('cık')" mean?
In Turkish, "Kafayı geriye atma ('cık')" means "No. (a silent, complete 'no')". Literally it's "A single upward tilt of the head/chin, eyebrows raised, often with a tongue-click 'tsk' ('cık') and sometimes closed eyes". Not rude at all — but the single most disorienting gesture for visitors, so it earns its place. A Turk saying no often just flicks the head UP with raised brows and a soft tongue-click "tsk" ("cık"), which foreigners routinely misread as a nod-yes or a flirty chin-up. Learn it fast or you'll agree to things you meant to decline. A slow side-to-side head-waggle, confusingly, means "I don't understand / what?" rather than "no."
Is "Kafayı geriye atma ('cık')" offensive?
It's on the mild end — 1/5 (Grandma-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. mild, playful; fine on daytime TV.
How do you pronounce "Kafayı geriye atma ('cık')"?
This one's a hand gesture — there's nothing to pronounce. A single upward tilt of the head/chin, eyebrows raised, often with a tongue-click 'tsk' ('cık') and sometimes closed eyes.

Related in Turkish

Lan LAHN Man / dude / hey — a rough vocative that dials the whole sentence up or down Ya YAH Come on / seriously / ugh — a softener-slash-intensifier tacked on for feeling Hadi be! hah-DEE BEH Get outta here! / No way! / Yeah right! Ayıp! ah-YUHP Shame on you! / That's not on! Of ya! OFF YAH Ugh! / For crying out loud! Aman! ah-MAHN Oh come on / whatever / good grief

Reviewed by native speakers. Rate it differently? Tell us what we got wrong.