Emoji Guides
Articles about emoji: the standard behind them, the platform differences nobody warns you about, what the ones you keep seeing actually mean, and how other countries and generations read them. Every example on these pages copies with one tap.
Read Flower Emoji Right: What 🌸, 🌹, 🥀 and 💐 Mean in a Text, Plus Every Flower to Copy
Unicode gives each flower a plain name, like ROSE or WILTED FLOWER, and no meaning. The romance in 🌹, the sadness in 🥀 and the congratulations in 💐 come from how people already use real flowers, and the CLDR emoji keywords point the same way.
Read the Moon Emoji Right: What 🌚 and 🌝 Mean in Chat, Plus Every Phase to Copy
Unicode calls 🌚 NEW MOON WITH FACE and stops there. The side-eye, the shade and the awkward "well then" come from how phones draw it and how people use it, and its bright twin 🌝 can be a grin or a forced smile.
Japanese vs Western Emoticons: Why ^_^ Smiles With the Eyes and :) With the Mouth
^_^ and :) both smile, but with different parts of the face. In a 2007 study, faces whose eyes looked happier than their mouths seemed mildly happy to Japanese students and sad to American ones.
Skull, Melting Face, Clown: What Internet Emoji Actually Mean
Their Unicode names say skull, clown face, folded hands. Online they say "I'm dead", "I did this to myself" and "please". Here is what 17 of the most common ones are really doing.
Taiwanese Internet Slang: What 87, QQ, ㄏㄏ and 森77 Mean
Taiwan's chats run on puns you can only read out loud: 森77 is a pouty "I'm mad", ㄏㄏ is a flat heh-heh, and QQ is either crying or chewy boba. Here is where each one comes from, the emoji that go with it, and why 8+9 is better left alone.
What Is an Emoji? Unicode, Sequences, and Why Yours Looks Different
Unicode decides the number and the name. Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung each draw their own picture. That one split explains almost every emoji surprise you have ever had.
Japanese Emoji Meanings: What 🙏, 💮, 🔰 and 💢 Mean in Japan
Emoji were drawn for Japanese phones, so plenty of them picture everyday Japan. 🙏 is please and thank you, 💮 is a teacher's gold star, and 🔰 is a mark the law puts on new drivers' cars. Read literally, they say something else.
Is the Thumbs Up Emoji Passive Aggressive? Emoji Across Generations
Your mum sends 👍 and means "lovely". Your kid reads "ok, whatever". Where the emoji generation gap really is, what the research says about it, and how to text your family without the misunderstanding.
Cap, GOAT, Nail Polish, Nerd: Gen Z Emoji Meanings Explained
🧢 calls you a liar, 🐐 calls you the greatest and ☝️🤓 says "um, actually". Here are 14 emoji Gen Z uses, what each one means now, and where many of them were borrowed from.
Chinese Emoji Meanings: Why the Smile Stings and the Lemon Is Jealous
The same 🙂 that is usually just a smile in Taiwan often reads as a cold smirk on WeChat. What the smile, the lemon, the tea, the watermelon and the dog mean on the Chinese internet, and where each came from.
Hand Emoji Meanings Around the World: Where 👌 👍 ✌️ Can Offend
The same hand can say something else abroad. 👌 can mean money, zero or an insult, ✌️ with the palm turned in is rude in Britain, and 🤘 in Italy tells someone their partner is cheating. Here is what 14 of the hand emoji mean around the world.
What Do kkkk, jajaja, www and 555 Mean? How the World Laughs Online
Thai people type 555, Japanese users www or 草, Koreans ㅋㅋㅋ, Brazilians kkkk and Spanish speakers jajaja. They all mean hahaha. Here is where each one comes from, how it reads, and when a laugh can come across wrong.
Heart Emoji Meanings: What Each Color Says and Who to Send It To
The Unicode Standard names the colors and says nothing about what they mean. The meanings come from people: fandoms, sports teams, Snapchat's friend list, and, for Chinese readers, the old rule that red is for celebrations and white is for funerals.