The lived experience associated with the emergence of a new idea has been little studied. An empirical approach consisting in gathering precise descriptions of the ideation process of scientists, as well as their process of expression, led us to explore a deeply pre-reflected, gestural and transmodal dimension of experience that seems to be the very source of meaning. After describing our research method, we present the results of our survey, and then describe the structural characteristics of this dimension. We conclude with a number of lines of thought on the pedagogical and epistemological consequences of the recognition of the gestural character of meaning.