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

Christina’s use of the snake emoji appears to be a dig at Josh, who tagged the same restaurant in his Instagram Stories while out with friends on the same night. —Natalia Senanayake, People.com, 25 Feb. 2025

The baby's face was covered with an emoji for privacy. —Matt Robison, Newsweek, 24 Feb. 2025

Ever seen a social media post rate a book using a scale of chili pepper emojis? —Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY, 19 Feb. 2025

Followed by a flames emoji and a head-exploding emoji, the two graphics accompanying the post laid out a chain of events. —Adam Crafton, The Athletic, 19 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

1997, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for emoji

• koji
• logie
• shoji
• pedagogy

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