How to name what you feel: a list of emotions

Produced by InnerlyTests using artificial intelligence, based on the sources listed at the end. The review is editorial and was also done with AI: no psychologist or other mental health professional has reviewed this content. Updated 2026-10-26.

Sometimes you know you feel bad, or good, but you can't say exactly what it is. This list helps you find the word. You start with a broad family, such as fear or sadness, and move to more precise words. Each word comes with a line about when it tends to show up, and most families include a question to think about.

This page is not a quiz and does not diagnose anything. You don't have to answer or tick anything: just read.

Why naming helps (what research says)

Putting feelings into words seems to help a little. In a study of 30 adults, picking the right word for the emotion on a face reduced activity in the amygdala, a brain region involved in emotion, more than a similar task without emotion words (Lieberman and colleagues, 2007). In other lab studies, naming the emotion in unpleasant pictures slightly reduced the distress people reported, and naming it in pleasant pictures slightly reduced their pleasure. Naming seems to soften emotion in general, not only the hard ones. Interestingly, people expected naming to make them feel worse (Lieberman and colleagues, 2011).

Outside the lab pictures, the effect can look different. In a study of 88 people who were very afraid of spiders, those who said out loud what they felt in front of a real spider had a smaller body reaction a week later. But they said they felt just as afraid as people in the other groups (Kircanski and colleagues, 2012).

Researchers also study how precisely each person describes what they feel. This is called emotional granularity, or emotion differentiation. In a diary study, college students who told their unpleasant emotions apart more clearly reported managing those emotions more often, especially when they were intense (Barrett and colleagues, 2001). Noticing and expressing emotions is also one of the skills Salovey and Mayer (1990) included in the idea of emotional intelligence.

It helps to know the limits. In a review of 27 studies, the link between telling emotions apart and handling situations well ranged from negligible to small (correlations of 0.06 to 0.15), and most studies show only an association, not a cause (O'Toole and colleagues, 2020). There are early signs that this precision can be trained by building emotion vocabulary, but how that would work still needs testing (Kashdan, Barrett and McKnight, 2015). No one has tested whether reading a list like this one changes anything. Use it as an aid for thinking, not as treatment, and know that it does not measure your emotional intelligence.

How to use it

If you don't know where to start, ask yourself two things: is what you feel more pleasant or unpleasant? And is your body more stirred up or more still? These two questions organize emotion words in many languages (Jackson and colleagues, 2019) and already point to some families.
Go to the family that seems closest and read the words. Pick one or two. More than one can be true at the same time.
If you like, finish this sentence in writing or out loud: “I'm feeling ___ because ___.” Saying, writing and choosing from a list are different ways of putting feelings into words (Torre and Lieberman, 2018).
There is no right answer. The families are one way to organize, not a scientific classification, and we wrote the lines under each word to help tell similar words apart. They are not definitions.
Naming something hard can make it feel stronger at first. In some studies this happened when people had to come up with their own words, and the good effect came later (Torre and Lieberman, 2018). You can stop whenever you want.

Joy and calm

Enthusiasm: tends to show up when something you want is about to happen, or when you start something new that matters to you.
Amusement: tends to show up when something is funny or light and makes you want to laugh.
Contentment: tends to show up when things are good enough and you don't need anything more right now.
Pride: tends to show up when you, or someone close to you, achieved something that took effort.
Gratitude: tends to show up when you notice you received something good from someone.
Hope: tends to show up when a hard situation seems to have a possible way out.
Relief: tends to show up when a worry passes, or when something ends better than you expected.
Calm: tends to show up when nothing urgently needs your attention and your body slows down.

To think about: What made you feel a little better in the last few days, even for a short while?

Warmth and connection

Affection: tends to show up when you want to look after someone or be close to them.
Admiration: tends to show up when someone does something, or is a certain way, that you value a lot.
Compassion: tends to show up when you see someone suffering and want to help.
Trust: tends to show up when you feel you can count on someone without having to protect yourself.
Belonging: tends to show up when you feel part of a group, with room for you as you are.

To think about: Who have you felt at ease with recently, and what did they do to make that happen?

Surprise and interest

Surprise: tends to show up when something happens in a way you didn't expect, for better or worse.
Shock: tends to show up after strong, unexpected news or scenes, when it's hard to react.
Curiosity: tends to show up when something new catches your attention and you want to understand more.
Awe: tends to show up in front of something beautiful or vast that feels bigger than you, like a landscape or a piece of music.
Confusion: tends to show up when information doesn't fit together and you're not sure what to think.

To think about: What caught you by surprise in the last few days, and what did you feel right after?

Fear

Worry: tends to show up when your mind keeps going back to a problem that might still happen.
Nervousness: tends to show up before something important, like an exam, a conversation or a presentation, often with sensations in your body.
Anxiety: in everyday use, tends to show up when you expect something to go wrong, sometimes without knowing quite what. It is not the same as an anxiety disorder, which only a professional can assess.
Insecurity: tends to show up when you doubt you can cope, or doubt that you belong where you are.
Terror: tends to show up when you sense a strong, close danger and your body wants to run or freezes.

To think about: What exactly are you afraid of? Is there one small, concrete next step?

If you feel afraid of someone close to you, taking that seriously is not overreacting. Talk to someone you trust or contact a support service.

Anger

Irritation: tends to show up with small, repeated annoyances, like noise, delays or interruptions.
Impatience: tends to show up when something takes longer than you think it should.
Frustration: tends to show up when you put in effort and something blocks what you wanted.
Indignation: tends to show up when you see something unfair, done to you or to someone else.
Resentment: tends to show up when an old hurt was never resolved and the anger comes back when you remember it.

To think about: What limit or need of yours might this anger be pointing to?

Feeling angry is different from acting aggressively. If anger turns into wanting to hurt someone, or yourself, get help.

Sadness

Disappointment: tends to show up when something or someone falls short of what you hoped for.
Hurt: tends to show up when someone who matters said or did something that wounded you.
Loneliness: tends to show up when you're missing the connection you'd like to have, even with people around.
Grief: tends to show up after a loss: a person, a relationship, a plan, a stage of life.
Discouragement: tends to show up when you lack the drive to start or keep going with something.

To think about: What have you lost, or what do you miss? Who could you talk to about it?

If sadness or discouragement has lasted a few weeks, or is weighing on your daily life, see a doctor or psychologist. You don't have to wait until it gets worse.

Shame and guilt

Embarrassment: tends to show up after an awkward moment in front of other people, and usually passes quickly.
Shame: tends to show up with an urge to hide, as if others would see something bad in you.
Guilt: tends to show up when you think you did something wrong and want to make it right.
Regret: tends to show up when you think about what you would have done differently.
Humiliation: tends to show up when someone belittles or ridicules you, often in front of others.

To think about: If a friend were in the same situation, would you talk to them the way you're talking to yourself?

If someone close to you often humiliates or belittles you, it is not your fault, and it's worth getting support.

Low energy

Not everything we feel looks like an emotion. Sometimes it's a lack of energy or interest.

Boredom: tends to show up when what you're doing doesn't hold your attention or doesn't seem to mean anything.
Tiredness: tends to show up after physical or mental effort, or too little rest.
Exhaustion: tends to show up when tiredness builds up and rest no longer seems to be enough.
Indifference: tends to show up when something that used to matter no longer moves you.
Emptiness: tends to show up as a sense of feeling almost nothing, or that something meaningful is missing.

To think about: Does this have more to do with your body, your mind, or what's going on around you?

Tiredness that doesn't go away, loss of enjoyment, or a sense of emptiness that lasts for weeks deserves a conversation with a doctor or psychologist.

Mixed feelings

Often you feel more than one thing at once. That's common. In a study of more than 800 adults in the United States, the emotions people reported while watching short videos fell into 27 kinds, but without sharp boundaries between them (Cowen and Keltner, 2017). Some words are mixed from the start:

Longing: blends affection and sadness. It tends to show up when you miss someone, a place or a time in your life.
Jealousy: tends to mix fear of losing someone, or something important, with anger or insecurity. Feeling jealous gives no one the right to control another person.
Nostalgia: tends to mix joy and sadness when you remember something good that has passed.

Looking for an emotion wheel?

The best-known emotion wheels are tools for teaching and talking about emotions. The “Feeling Wheel”, for example, was published in 1982 in a transactional analysis journal as a tool for expanding awareness of emotions (Willcox, 1982). No wheel is the official map of emotions, and this list is not a version of one.

We chose a list for two reasons. Emotions shade into one another without sharp boundaries (Cowen and Keltner, 2017), which a drawing with separate slices hides. And emotion words don't mean exactly the same thing in every language (Jackson and colleagues, 2019). That's why some words on this list change from one language to another instead of being translated word for word.

When to get help

This list is not a diagnosis and doesn't tell you whether you have a mental health problem. Fear, anger and sadness are part of life. Talk to a psychologist, a doctor or another mental health professional if a feeling is very intense, has lasted for weeks, or gets in the way of your sleep, work, studies or relationships. It's also worth talking to someone if, for a long time, you've found it very hard to notice or describe what you feel.

If you have thoughts of hurting yourself or ending your life, or you don't feel safe, get help now: from someone you trust who is nearby, from your local emergency services, or from an emotional support line in your country. Asking for help at that moment is not an overreaction. This site does not provide medical or psychological care.

Keep going

If you'd like to keep thinking about a theme, these self-reflection quizzes have 4 questions each. They don't measure emotions and don't diagnose anything.

Wear Sensor: If tiredness or exhaustion is what you recognized most, the Wear Sensor helps you reflect on your emotional tiredness, and its guide walks through questions about where it might come from.
Internal Noise: If worry keeps going round in your head, Internal Noise invites you to reflect on the habit of dwelling on thoughts.
Value Radar: If shame or guilt come up often, Value Radar invites you to reflect on how you see your own worth.