Emoji Meanings

💀 Skull Something is so funny it has killed the sender. The standard laughter marker for anyone under about thirty. ● Alive · 2018 😂 Face with Tears of Joy Sincere laughter, sent mostly by people over thirty or by anyone being deliberately old-fashioned. ◐ Dying · 2014 😭 Loudly Crying Face Overwhelmed by anything at all, most often laughter, affection or mild inconvenience. Rarely actual grief. ● Alive · 2016 🙃 Upside-Down Face Cheerfulness with something badly wrong underneath. Used to deliver bad news while pretending to cope. ● Alive · 2016 🔥 Fire Excellent. Applied to outfits, songs, food photos and anything that deserves praise without further comment. ● Alive · 2014 👀 Eyes Watching with interest and declining to comment. Signals gossip, suspicion or barely concealed intrigue. ● Alive · 2015 ✨ Sparkles Emphasis with a sarcastic edge. Placed around a phrase to mark it as either magical or thoroughly ridiculous. ● Alive · 2017 🙏 Folded Hands Thank you, or please, or a small prayer, depending entirely on who sent it and how old they are. ● Alive · 2013 💯 Hundred Points Total agreement or full marks. Often stacked after a statement the sender considers beyond argument. ◐ Dying · 2013 🥺 Pleading Face Begging, or performing helplessness to get something. Also used for anything unbearably sweet. ◐ Dying · 2019 😏 Smirking Face Suggestive smugness. Signals a joke with a double meaning, usually one the sender is pleased with. ◐ Dying · 2012 🤡 Clown Face Someone has made a fool of themselves. Very often the sender, admitting it before anyone else can. ● Alive · 2018 👌 OK Hand Approval or agreement, delivered with the enthusiasm of somebody who has stopped paying attention. ◐ Dying · 2012 ❤️ Red Heart Love, or acknowledgement, or a full stop with feelings. The default heart for family and older senders. ● Alive · 2010 🖤 Black Heart Affection with an edge, or grief, or an aesthetic preference for looking slightly unwell. ● Alive · 2016 💔 Broken Heart Sincere upset, or mock devastation at something trivial such as a cancelled plan or a sold-out sandwich. ● Alive · 2011 🍑 Peach Almost never the fruit. Used as innuendo for the backside, in flirtation and in jokes about it. ● Alive · 2014 🍆 Aubergine Used as innuendo for male anatomy. The vegetable meaning survives mainly in recipes and supermarket adverts. ● Alive · 2013 💦 Sweat Droplets Water, sweat or effort in polite use, and innuendo in most others, usually alongside the peach or aubergine. ● Alive · 2014 🤨 Face with Raised Eyebrow Scepticism aimed at whatever was just said. Polite on the surface, deeply unconvinced underneath. ● Alive · 2017 😳 Flushed Face Caught off guard, usually by something mildly scandalous or unexpectedly forward. ● Alive · 2015 👍 Thumbs Up Message received. Technically positive, though younger recipients often read it as curt or quietly annoyed. ◐ Dying · 2011 🙂 Slightly Smiling Face Passive aggression in its purest form. The smile of someone who has decided not to say what they think. ● Alive · 2017 😊 Smiling Face with Smiling Eyes Warmth when sent by anyone over forty, and thinly veiled irritation when sent by anyone under twenty-five. ◐ Dying · 2012 ☠️ Skull and Crossbones The same as the plain skull but louder. Reserved for things funnier than ordinary funny. ● Alive · 2020 🫠 Melting Face Slow collapse under embarrassment, heat or accumulated stress, while continuing to smile about it. ● Alive · 2022 🗿 Moai Total emotional flatness, deployed after a joke to signal that no reaction is coming. ● Alive · 2021 🤓 Nerd Face Mockery of someone being pedantic. Attached to a quoted correction to make it look insufferable. ● Alive · 2023 🫡 Saluting Face Acknowledgement with a trace of resignation. Understood, and marching off to do it. ● Alive · 2022 🤌 Pinched Fingers Emphasis, exasperation or perfection, borrowed wholesale from Italian gesture and used mostly for comic effect. ● Alive · 2020 🥴 Woozy Face Drunk, exhausted or overwhelmed by attraction. Occasionally all three in one message. ◐ Dying · 2018 😩 Weary Face Dramatic exhaustion or longing, applied to workloads, celebrity photographs and desserts alike. ◐ Dying · 2015 🤷 Person Shrugging No idea, and no intention of finding out. Closes a conversation without offering anything further. ● Alive · 2016 🧢 Billed Cap A lie. On its own it means someone is talking nonsense; crossed out or negated, it means the opposite. ● Alive · 2019 🐐 Goat Greatest of all time. Attached to athletes, musicians and friends who have done something mildly impressive. ● Alive · 2017 🧠 Brain Intelligence, usually sarcastic. Marks an idea as either genuinely clever or catastrophically overthought. ● Alive · 2019 💅 Nail Polish Unbothered confidence. Ends a statement to show the sender considers the matter settled and themselves above it. ● Alive · 2018 🚩 Triangular Flag A warning sign about a person's behaviour, usually posted in rows for emphasis. ● Alive · 2021 🐍 Snake A traitor. Marks someone as two-faced, disloyal or fond of talking behind backs. ● Alive · 2016 🧿 Nazar Amulet Protection against jealousy and bad luck. Added to good news to avoid jinxing it. ● Alive · 2020 🎀 Ribbon A decorative marker of softness and self-conscious femininity, wrapped around usernames and captions. ● Alive · 2023 🩷 Pink Heart Affection without romance. The heart of choice for friends, sisters and people you like a great deal. ● Alive · 2023 🤝 Handshake Agreement, or a meme format placing two unlikely groups either side of something they share. ● Alive · 2020 🫶 Heart Hands Sincere affection or gratitude towards friends, sent when words would be excessive. ● Alive · 2022 🫂 People Hugging A virtual hug offered to someone having a difficult time, when there is nothing useful to add. ● Alive · 2020 😈 Smiling Face with Horns Mischief, scheming or flirtation. Marks a plan the sender knows is unwise and intends to carry out. ● Alive · 2013 👹 Ogre Rage or menace played for laughs, often about hunger, deadlines or an unreasonable amount of caffeine. ● Alive · 2019 🥵 Hot Face Overheating, from weather, spice or attraction, with the last of those doing most of the work. ● Alive · 2019 🥶 Cold Face Freezing, or an emotional shutdown so complete that the sender has gone visibly blue. ● Alive · 2019 🤖 Robot Anything automated, and increasingly a shorthand accusation that text was written by a chatbot. ● Alive · 2023 👽 Alien Weirdness, conspiracy jokes or a general refusal to explain what is going on. ● Alive · 2015 🤠 Cowboy Hat Face Forced cheerfulness in the face of disaster. A smile worn because the alternative is worse. ● Alive · 2019 😤 Face with Steam from Nose Determination or indignation, usually comic. Someone has resolved to do something about a very small problem. ● Alive · 2017 🥲 Smiling Face with Tear Smiling through it. Marks something bittersweet, or a cheerful message covering genuine strain. ● Alive · 2021 🥹 Face Holding Back Tears Welling up at something touching, most often a video of an animal or a friend's good news. ● Alive · 2022 😅 Grinning Face with Sweat Nervous laughter. Softens an admission, a late reply or a request the sender knows is cheeky. ● Alive · 2014 🫥 Dotted Line Face Feeling invisible, or announcing a deliberate disappearance from a conversation. ● Alive · 2022 🪫 Low Battery Out of energy, socially or otherwise. Sent to decline plans without inventing a reason. ● Alive · 2022 📉 Chart Decreasing Things are getting worse. Attached to reputations, moods and standards as often as to money. ● Alive · 2021 🧍 Person Standing Standing there doing nothing while something awkward unfolds. The visual form of an uncomfortable pause. ● Alive · 2020 🧌 Troll Someone is trolling, or being deliberately obtuse for entertainment. ● Alive · 2023 🍃 Leaf Fluttering in Wind Aesthetic calm in captions, and a coded reference to cannabis in a fair number of others. ● Alive · 2019 🐀 Rat An informer, or affectionate abuse for a friend who is behaving badly and enjoying it. ● Alive · 2022 🦅 Eagle American patriotism, almost always sarcastic and almost always sent by people who are not American. ● Alive · 2021 🥩 Cut of Meat Food posts, gym culture and jokes about eating enormous quantities of protein. ● Alive · 2021 🧊 Ice Coolness, composure or being frozen out. Also jewellery, in the older slang sense. ● Alive · 2021 😹 Cat with Tears of Joy Laughter with a knowing wink at how outdated the human version has become. ↺ Undead · 2021 🙌 Raising Hands Celebration or relief, most often seen in workplace channels announcing that something has finally shipped. ◐ Dying · 2013 ⚰️ Coffin Another way of saying something was funny enough to finish the sender off, one step beyond the skull. ● Alive · 2020 📸 Camera with Flash Photo credit. Appears in captions and bios to attribute an image to whoever took it. ● Alive · 2016 🗣️ Speaking Head Saying something loudly and with total conviction, whether or not it is remotely correct. ● Alive · 2022 😐 Neutral Face No reaction whatsoever, which is itself the reaction. Marks disapproval or a joke that has landed badly. ● Alive · 2014