Emoji meanings: Types of emojis and what do they mean

Emojis are visual symbols depicting human emotions, creatures, objects, and symbols, widely used across the internet—on platforms like text messages and social media. They vividly convey feelings that plain text sometimes can’t. If you’ve ever questioned the meaning of an emoji, this detailed article might provide insight. Here, you’ll find a variety of emojis and their meanings. Let’s dive right in!

Smileys and people emojis

These emojis represent everyday expressions and emotions. With each new Unicode update, we receive additional emojis portraying various facial expressions, human-related activities, and emotions.

Here’s a compilation of some commonly used emojis along with their meanings:

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
😀	Grinning	Conveys cheerfulness and joy	Grinning face
😃	Smiley	Denotes happiness and positive feelings	Grinning face with big eyes
😄	Smile	Depicts happiness or used for compliments	Grinning face with smiling eyes, happy face, smiley face
😁	Grin	Represents mischievousness, excitement, or enjoyment	Beaming face with smiley eyes, cheesy face
😆	Laughing	Depicts laughter in response to something hilarious	Grinning squinting face emoji
😅	Sweat smile	Indicates a close call or awkward situations in chats	Phew emoji, grinning face with sweat, relief emoji
🤣	Rolling on the floor laughing	Used for cracking a hilarious joke	Titled laughter
😂	Joy	Shows intense laughter with tears	Face with tears of joy, haha emoji
🙂	Slightly smiling face	Can convey positivity, happiness, or irony	Ironic smile, pain behind the smile
🙃	Upside down face	Portrays silliness and sarcasm	Sarcasm, silly
😉	Wink	Signals a joke or hidden meaning	Winky face
😊	Blush	Expresses extreme happiness	Happy, blush face
😇	Innocent	Represents purity and innocence	Angel
😍	Heart eyes	Conveys love and attraction	Heart face

These emojis vary in their representations, from joyful and loving expressions to those depicting discomfort or illness. They serve as colorful additions to our digital communication, enhancing the expression of emotions and reactions.

Animal and nature emojis

Our planet teems with diverse animals and plants, reflected in a range of emojis—some literal, others symbolic. Below is a compilation of emojis related to animals and nature:

Animals:

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
🐱	Cat face	Depicts a yellow cat face	Smiley cat, kitty, smiling cat
🐶	Dogface	Represents a dog’s face	Puppy, doggy
🐺	Wolf	Portrays a wolf’s face	Wolf face
🦊	Fox	Depicts a fox’s face	Fox face
🐈	Cat	A pet cat emoji	Feline, house cat
🦁	Lion face	Shows a lion’s face	Lion

Nature:

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
🌲	Evergreen tree	Represents trees retaining leaves year-round	Fir tree, Pine tree
🌵	Cactus	Depicts a cactus plant	Desert
🌴	Palm tree	Signifies a tree where coconuts grow	Coconut tree
🌿	Herb	Represents a green herb	Crop
🍁	Maple leaf	An orange leaf associated with Canada	Canada

Food and Drink:

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
🍇	Grapes	Shows a bunch of grapes	Grape
🍌	Banana	Depicts a peeled banana	Monkey snack
🍎	Apple	Represents a vibrant red apple	Red apple
🥕	Carrot	Depicts a long orange carrot	–
🍕	Pizza	A slice of pepperoni pizza	Slice of pizza, cheese pizza

Travel and Places: (This section will include various emojis depicting locations, landmarks, structures, buildings, natural settings, and modes of transport.)

Geographical Emojis:

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
🌍	Earth Africa	Depicts Earth with Africa visible	Globe showing Africa
🌎	Earth Americas	Shows Earth with North and South America	Globe showing Americas
🌏	Earth Asia	Earth featuring the continent of Asia	Globe showing Asia

Structures and Landmarks:

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
⛪	Church	Building for religious purposes	Cross
🏰	Japanese castle	Traditional castle made of stone and wood	Fortress
🗼	Tower	Tall tower often associated with Tokyo or the Eiffel Tower	Eiffel tower, red tower

Transport and Travel:

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
🚌	Bus	Public transportation for passengers	School bus
🚗	Car	Depicts an automobile	Red car
🚅	Bullet train	High-speed train running on electricity	Metro train

Natural Elements:

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
🌋	Volcano	Depicts a volcanic eruption with lava and smoke	Eruption
🏞️	National park	Park with rivers, mountains, and greenery	Park
☔	Umbrella with raindrops	Symbolizes rainy weather	Raining

Activities: (This section contains emojis depicting day-to-day activities such as sports, arts, and music.)

Activity Emojis:

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
🎃	Jack-O-Lantern	Classic Halloween symbol	Halloween, pumpkin
🎄	Christmas	Represents the Christmas tree	Xmas tree
🎆	Fireworks	Depicts nighttime light displays	Explosion

Game and Sport Emojis:

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
⚽	Soccer	Represents the sport of football	Football
⚾	Baseball	Depicts a baseball	Softball
🏀	Basketball	Shows a basketball	Orange ball

Entertainment and Cultural Emojis:

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
🔮	Crystal ball	Used in texts about magic and predictions	Fortune teller, purple crystal
🃏	Joker	Depicts a joker card	Joker card
♟️	Chess	Represents a chess pawn	Chess pawn

Art and Crafts Emojis:

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
🎨	Art	Depicts a color palette	Artist palette, painting
🧶	Yarn	Symbolizes a ball of yarn	Ball of yarn

This grouping organizes emojis by their respective categories, making it easier to identify and understand their meanings and uses.

Objects

EMOJI	EMOJI NAME	MEANING	OTHER NAMES
🎀	Ribbon	Cloth placed on a shirt collar	–
👓	Glasses	Represents spectacles	Specs, spectacles
🕶️	Sunglasses	Represents sunglasses	Glasses, smart
🥽	Goggles	Represents swimming goggles	Swimming, swimming goggles
🥼	Lab coat	Worn in laboratories	Lab
🦺	Safety vest	Worn in large water areas like pools	Vest
👔	Necktie	T-shirt with an attached tie	Tie
👕	T-Shirt	Simple emoji of a T-shirt	Shirt
👖	Jeans	Simple emoji of jeans	Jean
🧣	Scarf	Simple emoji of a scarf	–
🧤	Gloves	Simple emoji of gloves	Glove
🧥	Coat	Simple emoji of a coat	–
🧦	Socks	Simple emoji of socks	–
👘	Kimono	Traditional Japanese dress	–
👗	Dress	Simple emoji of a girl’s dress	–
🛍️	Shopping bags	Represents shopping bags	Shopping, mall
🎒	Backpack	Simple emoji of a backpack	Bag, school bag
🩴	Thong sandal	Footwear generally worn in bathrooms	Sandals
👞	Man’s shoe	Formal shoes	Leather shoes
👟	Running shoe	Shoes used for running or sports	Shoes, sports shoes
🥾	Hiking boot	Represents hiking boots	Boots, trekking
🥿	Flat Shoe	Shoe with minimal sole	Woman’s shoe
👠	High-heeled shoe	Shoe with very high heels	High heels
👡	Woman’s sandal	Sandals worn by women	Sandal
🩰	Ballet shoes	Shoes for ballet dance	Ballet
👢	Woman’s boot	Boots worn by women in winter	Boots, high boots
👒	Woman’s hat	Represents a woman’s hat	Hat
👑	Crown	Crown fitted with jewels	King, Queen
🎩	Top hat	Represents a long hot	Magician
🎓	Graduation cap	Represents a graduation cap	Graduation
🧢	Billed cap	Represents a billed cap	Cap
🪖	Military helmet	Represents a military helmet	Military, army
⛑️	Rescue worker’s helmet	Represents a rescue worker’s helmet	Rescue

These emojis symbolize everyday items used in various contexts, expressing desires for purchases or gifts.

FAQs

How to add new emojis to Android mobile phones and iPhones?

To access these, make sure your smartphone or keyboard is running the latest software. Both Android and iPhones regularly add new emojis with software updates. For instance, Android 11 introduced 117 new emojis.

What is the meaning 🥰 emoji?

The emoji, sporting hearts, blushing cheeks, and smiling eyes, is all about conveying a cozy, affectionate vibe. It’s used to express feelings of love or being smitten with someone or something.