An emoji dictionary with meanings, codes and a message decoder
What does 💀 mean in a group chat? Is 🙂 friendly or passive-aggressive? Why do people send 🧢? This emoji dictionary explains more than 400 of the most-used emoji in plain words — the literal picture, the way people actually use it, and the regional or generational caveats worth knowing before you send it to your boss, your grandmother or a friend abroad.
Every entry also shows the technical details developers and designers need: the official Unicode short name, the code points (U+1F602), the HTML entity (😂), the JavaScript escape and the UTF-8 bytes, each one click to copy. Hand and person emoji can be previewed in all five skin tones. Switch to Decode a message and paste any text to get every emoji in it listed with its meaning and how many times it appears.
How to use the Emoji Dictionary
- Type a word (laugh, love, cap), a meaning, or paste the emoji itself into the search box; narrow it with the category list.
- Click an emoji to see its name, meaning and usage notes.
- For hands and people, pick a skin tone to see that version and its code points.
- Copy the emoji, its code points, its HTML entity or its JavaScript escape with the buttons.
- Choose Decode a message and paste a chat, comment or caption to list every emoji in it with its meaning.
Emoji Dictionary features
400+ emoji with real-world meanings
Smileys, hearts, gestures, people, animals, food, activities, travel, objects, symbols and flags.
Caveats that matter
Notes on gestures that are rude in some countries, emoji younger people read differently, and common innuendo.
Developer details
Code points, HTML entities, JavaScript escapes and UTF-8 bytes, correct for multi-character emoji.
Skin tones and ZWJ
See how modifiers and zero width joiners build emoji such as 👍🏽 and 👩💻.
Message decoder
Lists and counts every emoji in pasted text, including flags and skin-tone variants.
Emoji that mean something different from what you think
| Emoji | Literal | How it is often used |
|---|---|---|
| 💀 | skull | “I’m dead” — laughing hard |
| 😭 | loudly crying face | Overwhelmed — often by laughter or cuteness |
| 🙂 | slightly smiling face | Can read as forced or passive-aggressive |
| 🧢 | billed cap | “Cap” = a lie; “no cap” = for real |
| 🐐 | goat | GOAT — greatest of all time |
| 🍵 / ☕ | tea / hot beverage | “Spill the tea” — gossip |
| 🚩 | triangular flag | A red flag — a warning sign |
| 🙏 | folded hands | Please, thank you or prayer — not a high five |
How emoji are encoded
Each emoji is one or more Unicode code points. Simple ones are a single code point — 😂 is U+1F602, which UTF-8 stores as four bytes, F0 9F 98 82. In HTML you can write it as the entity 😂 and in JavaScript as "\u{1F602}".
Others are sequences: a base character plus a skin-tone modifier (👍🏽 = U+1F44D U+1F3FD), characters joined by the zero width joiner U+200D (👩💻 = woman + ZWJ + laptop), a symbol followed by variation selector-16 U+FE0F to request colour emoji style (❤️), or two regional indicator letters forming a flag (🇮🇳 = I + N). That is why one emoji can count as several “characters” in a character counter and why the text to Unicode converter shows several code points for it.
Using emoji well at work and across cultures
- In professional messages, stick to clear, low-risk emoji such as ✅, 👍 (with words), 🙏 and 🎉.
- Gestures carry local meaning: 👌, 👍 and ✌️ are insults in some countries as hand gestures, even if most readers see the emoji kindly.
- Food emoji like 🍑, 🍆 and 🌶️ often carry innuendo — avoid them where that could embarrass someone.
- Emoji look different on Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung devices; a face that looks friendly on one may look grumpy on another.
- Screen readers announce each emoji’s name, so a row of ten 😂 is read aloud ten times — use them sparingly for accessibility.
Emoji Dictionary FAQ
What does this emoji mean?
Paste it into the search box of the emoji dictionary — or paste a whole message into Decode mode — to see its official name and how people commonly use it, with caveats where meanings differ.
How do I find an emoji’s Unicode code point?
Select the emoji: the card shows its code points (for example U+1F602), HTML entity, JavaScript escape and UTF-8 bytes, each with a copy button.
How do skin tones work?
Five modifier characters, U+1F3FB to U+1F3FF, follow a person or hand emoji to change its skin tone. The dictionary previews all five for emoji that support them.
What is a ZWJ emoji?
A sequence of emoji joined by the zero width joiner U+200D, which compatible fonts draw as one picture — such as 👩💻 or 🏳️🌈. Older systems show the parts side by side.
Why does one emoji count as several characters?
Because many emoji are made of several code points (modifiers, joiners, variation selectors), and JavaScript counts UTF-16 code units, so 😂 alone is two.
Where can I quickly type or copy emoji?
Use the emoji picker on this site for fast browsing and copying; this dictionary is for meanings and codes.