The emoji survival guide: Skulls, prayer hands, and accidental flirting
When the newest emojis drop, like any functioning adult, I immediately treat it like breaking news.
Later this year, Emoji 17.0 will be released that will include Distorted Face, Fight Cloud, Ballet Dancers, Orca, Hairy Creature, Trombone, Treasure Chest, and Landslide. Previously, Emoji 16.0 came with interesting additions like a face with bags under eyes, (so relatable!); a fingerprint emoji for mystery, drama and “don’t ask me” energy; plus a root vegetable for people who want to send the message “I’m grounded” (but make it agricultural). There is a harp which means sudden angelic behavior; a shovel is for digging yourself into a hole; and a splatterfor chaos. It feels like emojis have been around forever. There is the emoji confusion Hall of Fame: the “prayer hands” , that many of us use for prayer, gratitude, apology, but many believe it to be a high five. Imagine sending your condolences with prayer hands, and the receiver thinks it’s a high five? I know this possible misinterpretation, but will I stop using the prayer hands? No. Same with the skull, which now means “I’m dying of laughter”, and the crying face, which somehow became comedy instead of tragedy. Even the peach lives a sexy double life.
Emojis aren’t just icons anymore, they’re mood translators, statements, possible misunderstandings, soft messaging, a mode for flirtation—a language on its own.
Before emojis became our emotional shorthand, people relied on actual words and punctuation, which could be exhausting. Emojis evolved from early emoticons like :) but the first true emoji set is credited to Shigetaka Kurita in Japan in the late 1990s. From there, emojis spread globally and turned into a universal visual language. They are standardized through something called the Unicode Consortium, which is a nonprofit organization that maintains the universal text standard used by computers and mobile phones so that characters, symbols, and emojis can work consistently across devices and platforms. That is why emojis can exist on different apps and operating systems without turning into blank squares (some still do, though). Meanings can still shift depending on culture and internet behavior, so when in doubt, check Emojipedia, which is basically the emoji dictionary of record, complete with official names and usage notes.
Here is a short emoji dictionary, because honestly, we need one.
Emoji Dictionary (30 Essentials)
😀 — Happiness, friendliness
😂 — Laughing hard
🤣 — Uncontrollable laughter
😭 — Laughing or crying ; intense emotion
😌 — Calm, relief, contentment
😐 — Neutral, speechless
😒 — Annoyance, skepticism
🙃 — Sarcasm, playful
🤡 — Foolishness, clown
💀 — Dying of laughter, shock
👀 — Looking, curiosity, attention
🤝 — Agreement, partnership
🙏 — Prayer, thanks, pleading; some say it’s a high five
❤️ — Love
💕 — Affection
💘 — Romance, being lovestruck
💅 — Confidence, unbothered attitude
✨ — Sparkle, emphasis, positivity
🔥 — Excellent, hot as in sexy, exciting, attractive
🧠 — Intelligence, overthinking
🍵 — Gossip, tea, news, chismis
🍑 — Peach, booty
🚩 — Warning sign, red flag
🤳 — Selfie, self-posting
😵 — Dazed, overwhelmed
🤫 — Secret, hush
😈 — Mischief, naughty mood
🤠 — Confident, playful swagger
😬 — Awkward tension, “yikes!”
📌 — Important, pinned, remember this
😏 — Smirk
🤯 — Mind blown, overwhelmed
🧠 — Big brain, overthinking
📣 — Announcement, calling it out
🏅 — Achievement, “you earned it”
Emojis are basically modern-day hieroglyphics, except instead of documenting history, they document feelings, statements, flirtations, and what words cannot express. One tiny icon, though, can turn a sweet message into a misunderstanding, a compliment into flirting, or a wrong one into a breakup. Emojis save us from typing paragraphs, but sometimes create the exact kind of confusion that requires paragraphs. So it’s best we know what it means before sending away, because emojis are here to stay. So keep up, folks. And with that I say: 🎉👏🧠📚✨ (Congratulations! You learned something new.)
