emoji

noun

emo·​ji ē-ˈmō-jē 

plural emoji or emojis

: any of various small images, symbols, or icons used in text fields in electronic communication (as in text messages, email, and social media) to express the emotional attitude of the writer, convey information succinctly, communicate a message playfully without using words, etc.

The function of emoji, as [emoji developer Shigetaka] Kurita describes it—adding subtle emotional emphasis to a sentence in text—isn't too different from that of emoticons, the frowny and smiley faces that people have been making out of punctuation since the mid-1990s.

—Britt Peterson

compare emoticon

Examples of emoji in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Insert double heart-eyes and red exclamation mark emojis here. —Shalwah Evans, People.com, 22 Dec. 2024

Many of the tweets took this form—a word of outrage, a furious emoji, regarding claims about the bill’s overreach or sheer length. —Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2024

The language, even the emojis used, are his usual tone. —R. Eric Thomas, The Mercury News, 18 Dec. 2024

In response, social media companies’ algorithms to detect drug-selling behavior are getting smarter and are aggregating images and emojis, Fuller says. —Mattha Busby, WIRED, 17 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Japanese, literally, "pictograph," from e "picture, drawing" + moji "letter, character"

First Known Use

1997, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

emoji

noun

emo·​ji

ē-ˈmō-jē

plural emoji or emojis

: any of various small images, symbols, or icons used in electronic communication (as email) to express the feelings or attitude of the writer or to present information concisely or playfully