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The list of available emojis and their meanings is long. There are now a large number of emojis available that you can use to express your feelings.
List: The most important emojis and their meanings
Emojis have become an indispensable part of texting. They help us emphasize what we write, convey feelings more effectively, and avoid misunderstandings. There are now countless emojis available. We explain the meanings of the most important ones:
- 😂 The face with tears of joy: This indicates hearty laughter or crying with joy.
- 🤣 Rolling on the floor laughing: Extreme laughter or excessive laughter with joy.
- 😢 The crying face shows discomfort or pain.
- 😭 The crying face indicates sadness or great sorrow.
- 😘 Blowing a kiss expresses love or romance. It can also be used to flirt.
- 😁 A beaming face shows one’s own happiness or a feeling of pride. However, it can also appear silly or amused.
- 😉 A wink can express playfulness or flirtation.
- 🤩 This emoji shows how overwhelmed you are. It expresses that you are impressed or amazed by something.
- 🤗 The hugging hands show your appreciation or gratitude.
- 😌 This emoji shows a relieved face. You are calm and relaxed.
- 😱 The face screaming in fear: you are shocked and cannot believe what has happened.
- 😑 The expressionless emoji indicates slight despair or annoyance.
- 😶 The face without a mouth: you are completely speechless right now.
- 🙃 The upside-down face, just like the eye-rolling emoji🙄, indicates irony and sarcasm.
- 😎 The sunglasses face shows how carefree or cool you are.
- 😈 The little devil: The user is naughty, cheeky, or up to mischief.
- 😴 The sleeping face: You are tired or bored.
- 😤 If you respond to a message on WhatsApp with the snorting emoji, you are showing your anger or contempt.
- 🤠 With this face, you want to communicate that you are looking for adventure or want to try something new.
- 🧐 The emoji with the monocle over the eye: You are expressing your skepticism in a sophisticated way.
- 🤥 With the long-nosed face, you suspect that someone is lying.
- 🤐 The face with the zipper for a mouth indicates your secrecy and discretion.
Emojis as hands and gestures
In addition to faces as emoticons and emojis, there are also numerous hands and gestures in the list:
- 🙏 Hands clasped together mean that you are very grateful.
- ✋ A raised hand indicates that you have questions. However, it could also mean “stop” or “high five.”
- 🙌 These two raised palms indicate celebration or success.
- 👋 Use this emoji to say hello or goodbye.
- 🤷♀️ The shrugging emoji means ignorance or indifference.
- 🤦♀️ The emoji holding its head shows that you are frustrated or dismayed.
- 💃 The dancer: You are carefree, having fun, or thinking positive thoughts.
Ambiguous emojis
Every now and then, emojis are also used with a different meaning. These ambiguous images are mainly used in flirting or dating apps or are used in WhatsApp as sexy emojis.
- 🍆 The eggplant, for example, is supposed to refer to male genitals.
- 🐱 The cat face, on the other hand, refers to female genitals.
- 🍯 The pot of honey also refers to female genitals.
- 💨 The cloud of dust is meant to represent flatulence.
- 🍑 The peach is used to show your buttocks or rear end.
- 💦 The raindrops refer to ejaculation.
- 🍒 The cherries are meant to symbolize female breasts or male testicles. They can also refer to virginity.
- 🍝 The plate of spaghetti refers to nude photos.
- 🌽 The corn cob refers to content intended for adults only.
- ❤️🔥 or 🔥 are often used not only to express enthusiasm, but also as a sign of flirtation.
- Even the simple 😏 (“mischievous smile”) can be understood as both flirtatious and provocative, depending on the person.
- 🍃 + 🥬 The leaves in the wind and the broccoli refer to cannabis or weed.
New emojis 2025/2026
New emojis are made available from time to time after updates. You can already find these in your messaging app or hope to soon:
- Beetroot: A vegetable emoji that stands for nutrition and gardening, but is also used metaphorically for agriculture or vegetarianism.
- Harp: The harp stands for music and musical art, especially classical music. It can convey calm, serenity, and peace.
- Splash of color: Creativity, artistic work, crafts, and painting can be visualized in this way. Sometimes the emoji is also used figuratively to represent stains or messiness—for example, when something is not perfect, something appears smudged or messy.
- Leafless tree trunk: It is used as a symbol of environmental destruction, climate change, or loss.
- Exhausted smiley with dark circles under the eyes: The overtired face expresses that you are not feeling well, have had little sleep, or are overworked.
- Shovel: The shovel is a tool for digging, so it can be used for gardening or construction work.
- Fingerprint: It symbolizes identity, security, uniqueness.
Interpreting emojis correctly and avoiding misunderstandings
Since many emojis are ambiguous, it is not always immediately clear what the other person means. Age also plays a role in interpreting smileys and the like.
- Context is crucial when interpreting emojis. Who are you writing to, what is your relationship with them, how well do you know them?
- The meanings of emojis vary greatly depending on age and social environment: younger people often use emojis ironically, while the older generation tends to take emojis more literally.
- Certain symbols have different connotations in different cultures—e.g., hand gestures, heart colors, or animals.
- An emoji alone is rarely enough to clearly convey irony – but combining it with text (“Yeah, right 🙃”) makes the intention clear.
