Text messages and online chats can include a combination of words, pictures and emoticons to convey a message. Words and pictures can be easily understood, but when someone sends emoticons it can feel like you're decoding a secret message.
And “😃” or “❤️” are easy to understand, but how do “😩” and “😭” differ? Over time, the meanings of emoticons have become subjective depending on the context of the message and broader cultural trends.
With over 3,000 emoticons, there's one for almost everything.
Which shaking smiley should you use? Is there a difference between each different colored heart? Does the peach emoji mean fruit anymore? Here's how to find out what they are 3,790 emoticons mean and what emoticons could be next.
Read more: We could be getting Sasquatch emojis soon
Emojipedia is here to help
Emojipedia is an online emoticon encyclopedia run by people who research emoticons. The site sorts emoticons into nine categories, including Smileys, People, Objects, Activity and more. Each category then breaks down the emoticons into further subsections. So if you click on Smiley, for example, you'll see sections like Smiling and affectionate and Sleepy and uncomfortable.
If you click on an individual emoticon, Emojipedia will give you a brief description of that emoticon. For example, here's what Emojipedia says about “😶🌫️” (face in clouds) emoticons:
“A person who appears to be surrounded by clouds or a haze of smoke.” Ambiguous in appearance, this can represent a clouded state of mind, confusion, or even a sense of peaceful bliss. It can also be used to indicate the presence of smoke.”
Emojipedia will also give you a list of other emoticons that this particular emoticon works well with. In the case of cloud face emoji, Emojipedia's suggestions include “🚬” a cigarette and “🌪️” tornado — quite a range there.
What's a text message without an emoticon or two?
Each Emojipedia entry also shows you the different artwork for each emoji across platforms, as well as how the artwork has evolved over time. The emoji record will also show you shortcodes and other names for each emoji, if applicable.
What are the most popular emoticons?
You may have your own emojis, but according to Emojipedia, these are the most popular emojis since the beginning of January. The list changes periodically, so what's popular now may not be popular next month or around the holidays. Note that not all platforms support all of the latest emojis, so they may not all appear on your device.
What are the latest emoticons?
In September, Google has introduced Emoji 16.0which includes eight new emoticons. The new emoticons are a spray paint, harp, fingerprint, root vegetables, a tree without leaves, shovelon the flag of the small island of Sark (population: 500) and a tired looking emoticon with bags under his eyes — honestly, same.
However, it may be a while before you see these emoticons in texts. Google wrote online in July that the new emoticons will be available on Android devices in March of this year. iPhone users likely won't see these emoticons until then. While Unicode released its version 15.1 with the new emojis in September 2023, those emojis didn't appear on the iPhone until Apple announced iOS 17.4 in March 2024. So iPhone users will probably have to wait until March 2025 for the latest emojis. Now you might see the latest emoticons on the web as a web font.
How often are new emoticons added?
Everyone can submit an idea for a new emoji. On Unicode standard — a universal character encoding standard — is responsible for creating new emoticons. Unicode proposed nine new emoticons on November 6, including Sasquatch and orca. However, these are only suggested emoticons. Unicode will decide in September which emoticons it will add next.
What about custom emojis, like Apple's Genmoji?
I bet you can guess what this emoji means.
Apple introduced its emoji generator, Genmojiat WWDC 2024, and the tech giant included the feature in the iOS 18.2. However, only people with iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max or device from iPhone 16 lineup can access Genmoji for now.
If you can't use Genmoji and want to create your own custom emojis, Emojipedia is now home to Emoji Mashup Bot. You can choose two emoticons from Twomoji set, and the bot will combine them to create a brand new emoticon. These new emoticons may not have a definition, but some combinations are easy to decipher.
All this just for emoticons?
Yes, but wait there's more! Emojipedia also hosts the World Emoji Awards on World Emoji Day, July 17. Awards are given for things like Most Popular New Emoji and Most Anticipated Emoji. The winners are determined by popular vote Xformerly known as Twitter, and any emoticon approved in the previous year can win.
New emoticons are added every year and there are even awards for new emoticons.
The winner for The most popular new emojis of 2024 it was the head shakes horizontally (🙂↔️) followed by the head shakes vertically (🙂↕️) and phoenix (🐦🔥). The winner of The most anticipated emoticons went to the face with bags under the eyes and on Most emoticons of 2024 the award went to melting face (🫠) for the second year in a row — still fitting.
On sparks (✨) emoticons were also given to Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024. Emojipedia wrote that this emoji is among the most popular emoticons of 2015 and has been adopted as an AI image.
In 2023 yearthe most popular emoji was pink heart emoji (🩷) and the runner-up was facial shaking (🫨). The most anticipated award for emoji in 2023 has been received the head shakes horizontally (🙂↔️).
For more, here they are latest approved emoticons, how to react to messages with emoticons on your iPhone and how to use emoticons instead of comments in Google Docs.