emoji
ih-MOH-jee
/ɪˈmoʊ.dʒi/
A small graphical icon or digital image used in electronic messages to represent an emotion, object, or idea.
Emojis are standardized colorful graphic glyphs maintained by the Unicode Consortium, distinct from typed keyboard character sequences.
The story behind the word. Created in 1999 by Shigetaka Kurita for Japanese mobile phones. It is a complete coincidence that 'emoji' sounds like 'emotion' in English—the word comes entirely from Japanese 'e' (picture) and 'moji' (character).
Word relationships
- pictograph: Pictograph is a broad formal term for any picture symbol.
Commonly confused with
- emoticon: Emojis are rendered colorful graphics, whereas emoticons are typed text characters like :-).
Collocations
- emoji reaction
- send an emoji
- custom emoji
Example sentences
- "The tears of joy emoji became one of the most frequently used symbols in global messaging history." Tech News
Memory hook
Picture (e) + Character (moji) = emoji image. Picture symbol on your phone screen.
When not to use
Do not confuse with emoticons, which are constructed out of ASCII punctuation marks.
Fun facts
- World Emoji Day is celebrated on July 17th because that is the date displayed on the calendar emoji icon!
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