How do gestures with specific meanings vary across cultures?

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A woman telephone operator wearing a headset sits at a manual switchboard, connecting calls by plugging cords into rows of jacks, circa 1900. — communication Operator at a telephone switchboard, c. 1900.

Gestures with specific meanings are not universal; they are culturally dependent forms of nonverbal communication known as kinesics.1

Anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell proposed that these gestures function similarly to spoken language. Just as linguistics uses phonemes to build words, kinesics uses "kinemes"—units of motion that generate meaning. Because these meanings are socially constructed, the same kineme can signify entirely different things depending on the culture:1

Thumbs-up: In North America, it signifies approval or hitchhiking; in Germany, it represents the number one; in Japan, it means five; and in Australia, it can be an offensive gesture.1
Waving: While often a greeting in the U.S., it can communicate "no" in parts of Europe and Latin America.1
Pointing/Curling finger: A gesture used to summon someone in the U.S. may be interpreted as "goodbye" in Italy.1

While these specific gestures vary, research by Paul Ekman suggests that the underlying emotions—such as happiness, anger, or sadness—are expressed through universal facial expressions recognized across diverse cultures.1