Rubbing Hands Together: Body Language, Explained

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The emotional, practical, and spiritual reasons people rub their hands

Co-authored by Kelli Miller, LCSW, MSW and Aimee Payne, MFA

Last Updated: May 20, 2025 Fact Checked

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Hand Rubbing Meanings

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Spiritual Uses & Benefits

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Rubbing Hands Together Meme

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Rubbing Hands Together Emoji

Have you ever been anxious or excited and noticed you’re rubbing your hands together? It’s totally normal! People often rub their hands together when they feel excitement because their feelings “leak out” into their bodies in a subconscious attempt to release the ecstatic feelings. Read on to learn more about what it means when people rub their hands together.

Why do people rub their hands together?

People rub their hands together when they’re feeling excited. They may also rub their hands together when they’re feeling anxious, or when their hands are cold and they’re trying to warm them up.

Section 1 of 4:

What It Means When Someone Rubs Their Hands Together

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Hand rubbing usually means someone is excited about something. They become excited about a future experience and begin to rub their hands together in anticipation. When they’re excited, they might start breathing faster, and their heart rate speeds up.^{[1]
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Research source} This can create a jittery feeling. Rubbing their hands together may help use up some of that energy.
- For example, they might rub their hands together when thinking about attending a concert they’ve been looking forward to.
- Another example might be that they rub their hands together before taking a bite of their favorite food.
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People also rub their hands together when they’re stressed. When someone becomes stressed, they may rub their hands together to pacify themselves. The more stressed they become, the faster or harder they rub their hands together. When they become very stressed, they spread and interlace their fingers while rubbing their hands together. ^{[2]
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- A person about to speak in front of a crowd may rub their hands together to deal with stress and anxiety over their performance.
- When someone’s waiting to hear back about a job offer, they may rub their hands to help release nervous energy.
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Someone may rub their hands together when they’re cold. Hands and feet are the farthest away from the heart, so it takes blood longer to circulate to keep them warm.^{[3]
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Cleveland Clinic
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Go to source} When someone rubs their hands together, it creates friction, which makes them feel warmer. The kinetic energy of hands rubbing together converts to heat energy that warms them up.^{[4]
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- A person waiting for a bus outside in the winter may stamp their feet and rub their hands together to help them stay warm.
- Someone may have poor circulation and rub their hands to help encourage blood flow.
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Someone wringing their hands can indicate worry or anxiety. When a person wrings their hands or rubs them by twisting and turning them around each other, it can mean they’re very worried about something.^{[5]
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Research source} When a person is worried or anxious about something, they wring their hands to regain a feeling of control over the situation.^{[6]
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- In some cases, a person may wring their hands as a form of self-restraint. Hand-wringing can help them control negative emotions.
- A person worrying over the health of a loved one may wring their hands as they wait to hear any news.
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Neurodivergent people may rub their hands to self-regulate. People with conditions like autism or ADHD may self-stimulate (or stim) to help regulate their emotions and senses.^{[7]
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Go to source}^{[8]
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Research source} Rubbing their hands together is one form of tactile stimming (stimming that has to do with touch).
- Don't discourage a neurodivergent person from stimming, even if it looks odd. It's helpful to them.^{[9]
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In cartoons, a villain often performs an evil hand rub. A miserly character, like Scrooge McDuck, may rub their hands over money. A character like Tom the Cat from Tom & Jerry might rub his hands in anticipation of doing something bad to Jerry the Mouse. This behavior connects to the idea that people who are excited about something rub their hands together. These characters are excited about planning or doing something that’s considered bad or wicked.
- A person may also wring their hands as an indication of guilt, like Lady Macbeth from Macbeth by William Shakespeare.^{[11]
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Section 2 of 4:

Spiritual Uses & Benefits of Hand Rubbing

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People rub their hands together to bring energy to their yoga practice. In yoga mudra practice, a type of yoga that uses hand and finger gestures, a practitioner first rubs their hands together. It’s a way to warm up the hands in preparation for the gestures and bring energy to the practice.^{[12]
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- There’s some evidence that performing mudras can help enhance immunity when used with traditional medicine.^{[13]
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- Many believe there are spiritual benefits to adding mudras to their yoga practice, including better focus.^{[14]
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Many reiki practitioners rub their hands together to build energy. Reiki is a type of energy healing that uses gentle touch to help reduce stress and anxiety and promote relaxation. In addition, it can foster healing after injury or surgery, stimulate the immune system, and relieve pain and tension.^{[15]
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Cleveland Clinic
Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals

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- Studies have found that reiki treatments can promote relaxation and wellness.^{[16]
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Section 3 of 4:

Rubbing Hands Together Meme

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The ”Rubbing Hands Together” meme is used as a funny way to show feelings of desire. Social media users often use a photo of former football player Anthony Adams to humorously show someone eagerly anticipating something. Adams is peeking from behind a tree while rubbing his hands together and licking his lips. The meme is also used to illustrate negative emotions like greed or cravings, but still in a humorous fashion.^{[17]
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Research source} People will caption the photo with a situation and then identify who the reaction image represents. A few examples include:
- Me: Eats a sandwich. My Dog:
- Me: Puts on shorts. Mosquitos:
- God: Do not eat fruit from the forbidden tree. Eve:
- Mortal Women: *Exist* Zeus:

Section 4 of 4:

Rubbing Hands Together Emoji

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The “Rubbing Hands Together” emoji represents excitement. The emoji is meant to resemble a scheming villain rubbing their hands together in anticipation of doing something evil. The emoji is used to humorously show the user is making plans or looking forward to something, not necessarily doing something wicked.
- This emoji is sometimes called the “Scheming” emoji or emoticon.
- The “Scheming” emoticon is also used in the “When the Function Got X” meme. It’s meant to say a party or gathering got really good when something gets there. The emoji represents excitement or anticipation for the thing. For example, the caption might read, “When the function got spinach artichoke dip,” accompanying the emoji.^{[18]
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- “The Function Got X” meme is a spinoff of “When the Function Got Hennessy” which humorously paired the phrase with random, nonsensical images.^{[19]
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