What do the different emoticons mean? Guide to emoticons: how to understand them and not get into an awkward position

What do emoticons mean? How to decipher them? These are the questions guys ask when they first get on social networks. After all, emoticons on social networks, as well as on VK, are a traditional and simple way to express long phrases with one picture.

A person is not always able to express his emotions through familiar words; sometimes even the most beautiful phrases do not reflect the essence of the conversation. And then the thread of the conversation is lost, since the interlocutor on the other side of the screen is also not a telepath and does not read thoughts.
Online correspondence is a special type of conversation in which, just like in a personal meeting, emotions and the ability to express them play a big role. The opponent cannot see facial expressions, hand movements, or hear surprised or questioning intonations. That's when emoticons will become useful.

Any social network provides its users with a truly huge selection of emoticons for all occasions. And we will mainly focus on VK. Since mostly children and teenagers sit there, as well as some young parents, it will be interesting to learn about emoticons on VK.

What do emoticons mean? These symbols help to clearly and harmoniously describe the necessary state, express an emotional reaction and eliminate the lack of vocabulary.

Most social networks, as well as any other resources for interactive communication, have in their arsenal a certain number of so-called hidden emoticons. Most users simply do not know about such a function, since the administration of the communities themselves deliberately does not disseminate such information. And yet – they exist, there are quite a lot of them, and they are absolutely free!

Each emoticon has a specific character code that belongs only to it. Therefore, in order to send such a smile to a friend, you need to write this same code into the clipboard, or copy it directly into the message you are sending. So, where can you get these secret signs to diversify your Internet vocabulary with them?

Below in this article the main codes will be given, and by writing them, anyone will receive unique emotions and symbols of actions. It is also important that these emoticons are suitable for sending not only in personal messages, but also for comments on photos, videos and other posts of friends. The standard set of faces that open during communication does not provide such a function. Hidden emoticons can even be added to the status; the main thing is to know what this or that sign means.

Inserting the required symbol into your text is quite easy - the Ctrl+V combination or the “Insert” mouse menu item will help with this.

Just ten years ago, everyone was actively using ICQ. Over time, more modern programs supplanted this method of communication, but the emoticons that were in ICQ have taken root in everyday life and are loved by many. How to get those very first and most positive emoticons? If your skill allows, you can install a special application, for example, “Vkopt” or “vkPlugin”. Each of them has its own catalog of emoticons, about thirty unique images, from good-natured and laughing to angry and sarcastic. In addition to the standard yellow faces, the applications will also delight you with cheerful blue ones.

Of course, emoticons will not replace your live communication with your peers and friends, but they can decorate online dialogues with incredible colors of emotion and understanding. You simply cannot allow communication to be reduced only to the exchange of symbols, even if they are eloquent, and sometimes you are simply too lazy to write a succinct and detailed answer. If writing is completely unbearable, agree with your interlocutor and create a smiley comic, the meaning of which will be accessible only to two. Overusing emoticons is ugly, expressing your opinion using funny symbols is modern and relevant.

How does a sticker from VKontakte differ from the generally accepted emoticon?

Lately, VKontakte has been offering us a lot of new stickers, some of them are free, others will have to be paid for with real money.

What is a sticker? This is a large picture on a given topic: cats, faces, people, fruits and vegetables, cars and others. They are available in the regular emoticon menu, which opens to any user during correspondence. But the site developers, for the most part, provide access to most of the stickers only for money.

Sometimes new thematic collections are released for free access, but really cool and individual ones are not included in this list. These paid stickers can be obtained in three ways: pay for them, ask a friend for stickers as a gift, or download the corresponding plugin. The third method is the most logical and fastest; besides, extensions will allow you to attach stickers not only to messages, but also to add them to comments.

The choice of such programs is so wide that it simply makes no sense to list them all here. Each of us can “Google” and choose an extension that will match his operating system.

If during a conversation in the dialogue field when you click on a sticker from the plugin, only its digital code appears - do not panic; when sending it, the picture itself will be displayed to the interlocutor. This is a peculiar feature of the work of such add-on programs.

The emotional meaning of emoticons - what each of them means and how to use it correctly

Now let's talk about how to correctly use symbols in Internet speech.

What do emoticons mean, what emotions do they express, what are their correct names?

Emoticons with symbols of cat faces on VKontakte

Now they are very popular and even touching. Let's talk about cats. These are well-known symbols, but the funny face in them is replaced by a cat’s face. The decoding of the emoticons of cat faces is given below (the most popular emoticons pictures are taken):

VKontakte emoticons indicating action

Emoticons - action

This is the decoding of VKontakte emoticons that we offer you. Now you know the meaning of emoticons and in front of you in the tables is their decoding for use on the popular social network VKontakte.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. The use of emoticons when communicating in chats, on forums, on social networks, when sending comments on blogs and even in business correspondence at the present stage of Internet development is already quite commonplace. Moreover, emoticons can be displayed both in the form of simple text symbols and in graphic form, which adds the possibility of choice.

Graphic emoticons (emoji, or emoji), which we will talk about in more detail below, appearing in the form of pictures, are displayed by inserting the corresponding codes that were specially added to the official Unicode table so that users can use them almost everywhere to express emotions .

Thus, on the one hand, you can find the code of the smiley you need in a special list to insert it, and on the other hand, in order not to look for the necessary encoding every time, it is quite possible to remember the sequence of simple text characters that reflect the most frequently expressed types of emotional state, and insert them into the text of the message.

Indicating emoticons using text symbols

To begin with, in order to satisfy my perfectionist nature, I would like to say a few words about the history of emoticons. After the great Tim Berners Lee laid the foundation for the development of the modern Internet, people were able to communicate virtually unlimitedly among themselves.

However, on the World Wide Web, from the very beginning, communication was carried out in writing (and even today this type of dialogue is still very popular), and it is very limited in terms of reflecting the emotions of the interlocutor.

Of course, a person who has literary talent and the gift of expressing his feelings through text will not experience problems. But the percentage of such gifted people, as you understand, is very small, which is quite logical, and the problem had to be solved on a mass scale.

Naturally, the question arose of how to smooth out this shortcoming. It is not known for certain who first proposed text signs reflecting this or that emotion.

According to some reports, it was a famous American computer scientist Scott Elliot Fahlman, who proposed using a set of symbols for humorous messages :-), in a different interpretation :) . If you tilt your head to the left, you will see what is essentially a cheerful smiley face:

And for messages containing some kind of negative information that can evoke emotions of the opposite nature, the same Falman came up with another combination of symbols: -(or:(. As a result, if you rotate it 90°, then we will see a sad emoticon:

By the way, since the first emoticons primarily identified the emotional background of the interlocutors, they received the name emoticons. This name comes from the abbreviated English expression emot ion icon— an icon with an expression of emotion.

The meaning of emoticons that express emotions through symbols

So, a start has been made in this area, all that remains is to pick up the idea and choose simple text signs with which one could easily and simply reflect other expressions of mood and emotional state. Here are some emoticons from the symbols and their interpretation:

• :-) , :) ,) , =) , :c) , :o) , :] , 8) , :?) , :^) or :) - emoticon of happiness or joy;
• :-D , :D - a wide smile or uncontrollable laughter;
• :"-) , :"-D - laughter to tears;
• :-(, :(, =(—sad emoticon made from symbols;
• :-C, :C - emoticons made from text characters, indicating intense sadness;
• :-o, - boredom;
• :_(, :"(, :~(, :*(—crying emoticon;
• XD, xD - emoticons with letters that mean ridicule;
• >:-D, >:) - options for expressing gloating (evil grin);
• :-> - grin;
• ):-> or ]:-> - insidious smile;
• :-/ or:-\ - these emoticons can mean confusion, indecision;
• :-|| - anger;
• D-: - strong anger
• :-E or:E - designation of rage in text characters;
• :-| , :-I - this can be deciphered as a neutral attitude;
• :-() , :-o , =-O , = O , :-0 , :O — these sets of symbols mean surprise;
• 8-O or:- , :-() - decoding: extreme degree of amazement (shock);
• :-* - gloominess, bitterness;
• =P, =-P, :-P - irritation;
• xP - disgust;
• :-7 - sarcasm;
• :-J - irony;
• :> - smug;
• X(—inflated;
• :~- - bitter to the point of tears.

By the way, some emoticons from signs, when inserted, can be displayed in graphic form (this will be discussed in today’s article), but not always and not everywhere.

What do other classic text emoticons mean?

Below I will give a number of simple symbolic emoticons that reflect the state, character traits of people, their attitude towards their interlocutors, emotional actions or gestures, as well as images of creatures, animals and flowers:

• ;-(— sad joke;
• ;-) - means a funny joke;
• :-@ - cry of anger;
• :-P, :-p, :-Ъ - show your tongue, which means licking your lips in anticipation of delicious food;
• :-v - talks a lot;
• :-* , :-() — kiss;
• () - hugs;
• ; , ;-) , ;) - wink designations;
• |-O - surging yawning, which means a desire to sleep;
• |-I - sleeping;
• |-O - snores;
• :-Q - smoker;
• :-? - smokes a pipe;
• / — emoticon meaning the interjection “hmmm”;
• :-(0) - screams;
• :-X - “keep your mouth shut” (means a call for silence;)
• :-! - the meaning of nausea or an analogue of the phrase “it makes you sick”;
• ~:0 - child;
• :*), %-) - drunk, intoxicated;
• =/ - crazy;
• :), :-() - a man with a mustache;
• =|:-)= — “Uncle Sam” (this emoticon means a comic image of the US state);
• -:-) - punk;
• (:-| - monk;
• *:O) - clown;
• B-) - a man in sunglasses;
• B:-) - sunglasses on the head;
• 8-) - a man with glasses;
• 8:-) - glasses on the head;
• @:-) - a man with a turban on his head;
• :-E - this set of symbols denotes a vampire;
• 8-# - zombies;
• @~)~~~~ , @)->-- , @)-v-- - rose;
• *->->-- - clove;
• <:3>
• =8) - pig;
• :o/ , :o
• :3 - cat;

If you wish, you can invent emoticons yourself by typing certain symbols (letters, numbers or symbols) on the keyboard. From the above list it is clear, for example, that using the number “3” you can depict the face of a cat, a dog (as well as, say, a rabbit) or one of the parts of a heart. And emoticons with P mean sticking out tongue. There is room for creativity.

Horizontal Japanese emoticons (kaomoji)

Above were classic emoticons made up of text symbols, which are interpreted and take on the correct shape only if you tilt your head to the left or mentally rotate such an image 90° to the right.

Japanese emoticons are more convenient in this regard; when looking at them, you do not need to tilt your head, because it is immediately clear what each of them means. Kaomoji, as you probably guessed, was first used in Japan and consisted of both standard characters found on any keyboard and the use of hieroglyphs.

Japanese term «顔文字» when translated into Latin it looks like “Kaomoji”. In fact, the phrase “kaomoji” is very close to the concept of “smile” (English smile - smile), since "kao" (顔) means "face" and "moji" (文字)- “symbol”, “letter”.

Even with a quick analysis of the meanings of these terms, it is noticeable that Europeans and residents of most countries where the Latin alphabet is common pay more attention to such an element as the mouth (smile) when expressing emotions. For the Japanese, all components of the face are important, especially the eyes. This is expressed in true (not modified) kaomoji.

Subsequently, Japanese emoticons became widespread in Southeast Asia, and today they are used throughout the world. Moreover, they can consist not only of symbols and hieroglyphs, but are often supplemented, for example, with letters and signs of the Latin or Arabic alphabet. First, let's see what do some simple horizontal text emoticons mean?:

• (^_^) or (n_n) - smiling, joyful;
• (^____^) - wide smile;
• ^-^ — happy smiley;
• (<_>) , (v_v) - this is how sadness is usually denoted;
• (o_o) , (0_0) , (o_O) - these emoticons mean varying degrees of surprise;
• (V_v) or (v_V) - unpleasantly surprised;
• *-* - amazement;
• (@_@) — surprise has reached its maximum (“you can be stunned”);
• ^_^”, *^_^* or (-_-v) - embarrassment, awkwardness;
• (?_?) , ^o^ - misunderstanding;
• (-_-#) , (-_-¤) , (>__
• 8 (>_
• (>>) , (>_>) or (<_>
• -__- or =__= - indifference;
• m (._.) m - apology;
• ($_$) - this emoticon reflects greed;
• (;_;) , Q__Q - crying;
• (T_T), (TT.TT) or (ToT) - sobbing;
• (^_~) , (^_-) - these variations of emoticons mean a wink;
• ^)(^, (-)(-), (^)...(^) - kiss;
• (^3^) or (* ^) 3 (*^^*) - love;
• (-_-;) , (-_-;)~ - sick;
• (- . -) Zzz, (-_-) Zzz or (u_u) - sleeping.

Well, now a few horizontal emoticons that reflect frequently encountered emotions, composed of more complex symbols and signs, as well as their designations:

• ٩(◕‿◕)۶ , (〃＾▽＾〃) or \(★ω★)/ - happiness;
• o(❛ᴗ❛)o , (o˘◡˘o) , (っ˘ω˘ς) - smile;
• (´♡‿♡`), (˘∀˘)/(μ‿μ) ❤ or (๑°꒵°๑)･*♡ - love;
• (◡‿◡ *), (*ﾉ∀`*), (*μ_μ) - embarrassment.

Naturally, Japanese emoticons, which use not only service symbols and punctuation marks, but also complex letters of the katakana alphabet, provide more opportunities to express not only emotions through facial expressions, but also through gestures.

For example, an emoticon has become widespread on the Internet, shrugging shoulders and throwing up hands. What does it mean? Most likely an apology with a hint of awkwardness:

This emoticon appeared thanks to the famous rapper Kanye West, who unexpectedly interrupted the presenter's speech at the Video Music Awards in 2010, and then demonstrated such a gesture, admitting the incorrectness of his behavior (the emoticon that shrugs its shoulders and spreads its arms was called “Kanye shoulders” and became a real meme):

If you are interested in exploring the complete collection of kaomoji that reflect emotions, forms of movement, states, types of animals, etc., then visit here is this resource, where they can be easily copied and pasted into the desired location.

Graphic emoticons Emoji (emoji), their codes and meanings

So, above we examined symbolic emoticons, some of which, when inserted on social networks and other places, can acquire graphic outlines, that is, appear in the form of pictures. But this does not happen everywhere and not always. Why?

Yes, because they consist of simple text icons. To emoticons were guaranteed to acquire the appearance of images after insertion, and in any place where you place them, codes must be used, specially included in the official Unicode table so that any user can quickly express their emotional state.

Of course, any emoticon can be loaded in the form of pictures created in graphic editors, but given the huge number of them and the number of users on the Internet, such a solution does not seem ideal, since it will inevitably negatively affect the bandwidth of the global network. But the use of codes in this situation is just right.

As a result, popular engines used for forums and blogs (for example, WordPress) have in their functionality the ability to insert colored emoticons, which undoubtedly adds expressiveness to messages.

The same can be said for various chats and instant messengers designed for both PCs and mobile devices (Skype, Telegram, Viber, Whatsapp).

It is graphic pictograms that are called emoji (or emoji, which is more correct from the point of view of Japanese pronunciation). Term «画像文字» (in Latin transliteration “emoji”), which, like kaomoji, is a phrase consisting of two words translated into Russian meaning “picture” (“e”) and “letter”, “symbol” (moji).

I think the Japanese name for small pictures that appear in the text to display emotions, feelings and states is most fair, since it was in Japan that symbolic images were born that do not require mentally turning them over for correct perception.

As I noted above, any code emoji smiley in the vast majority of cases, it is necessarily interpreted into a picture in all possible places where you want to insert it, including, for example, social networks VKontakte, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Moreover, in different areas, the smiley may be displayed differently when inserting the same Unicode code corresponding to a specific value:

Another important point. By default, the emoji smiley will be executed in black and white or displayed as a rectangle😀 (it all depends on the platform that is used where it is inserted). You can verify this if visit encoder and try to insert HTML codes corresponding to different emoticons into the field on the right:

Similar emojis will look exactly like this in the browser. In order for them to acquire color, you need to use a special script that is installed on large popular services. By the way, in one of the latest versions of WordPress (I don’t remember which one) emoji were enabled by default, but I had to disable them due to a serious increase in . which I try to constantly monitor.

So for small businesses with limited resources, emojis are not always a boon. After disabling, when you try to insert emoji into the text of an article or comment, the emoticons will be present in black and white or in the shape of a rectangle.

But in popular social networks, the use of the appropriate HTML code by any user initiates the appearance of a full-fledged emoticon. By the way, in the same Contact there is a whole collection of emoji, sorted into categories. Copy this or that emoji you can from the Unicode table, located where the icons are distributed among sections:

Select the required image from the “Native” column and copy it to using the context menu or Ctrl+C. Then open a page of some social network, forum, chat, or even your email in a new tab and paste this code into the message you want to send using the same menu or Ctrl+V.

Now watch the video, which presents 10 emojis whose real meaning you may not even know.

Emoticons made from symbols have been found very often lately. And rightly so, because there is no other more universal and faster way to display your emotions and experiences during text correspondence. Today, almost everyone knows at least two or three sets of symbols that represent emotions. This set includes parentheses to show a person's lips, colons to show a person's eyes, and a semicolon to show a wink. However, you may come across an emoji written in symbols and not understand its meaning. This article will help you get closer to understanding text emoticons and remember combinations of symbols to display your emotions in text correspondence.

Even modern written speech is not endowed with the properties of quickly displaying emotions, so that at the time of writing the text the author could show the experiences he was experiencing. Only using a couple of sentences or phrases. Before the era of the global spread of the Internet, there were no problems with displaying the emotional component of the writer. Only with the advent of the Internet and increasing communication through writing text messages in chats, instant messengers, forums, and so on, such problems appeared. It would be inappropriate to write in a message that you are now smiling or winking at your interlocutor - it would look more like absurdity, and if there is no emotional component at all, then the result will be a dry and callous dialogue.

When communicating in real time, it is not possible to select words to display emotions. You can use a question mark for a question, an exclamation mark for admiration, but how can you show your seriousness to your interlocutor or that you were joking? All these problems were solved in the early 80s. Then it was proposed to add the symbols colon, dash and closing bracket to humorous messages, that is :-) — text version of a smiling face (side view). This set of symbols is a smiling emoticon. Subsequently, the dash and then the colon were no longer used and they were simply written as a closing parenthesis ) .

For messages that are filled with sadness and feelings, it was proposed to assign a set of text characters with a colon, a dash and an opening parenthesis, that is :-(. This set of text symbols shows a face with eyes, a nose and downturned corners of the lips. As with the joyful, smiling emoticon, in the sad emoticon they subsequently stopped writing the symbols colon and dash, and began to write the sorry opening parenthesis (.

Thus began the widespread and varied use of emoticons in the form of text symbols. The main emphasis is on quickly expressing emotions using some sets of text symbols, but semantic emoticons are also used to show states, actions, surrounding nature, and so on. There is no standard set of text characters, since everyone writes them differently.

Let's look at different options for symbolic emoticons.

Smileys from symbols on the keyboard

Indication of emoticons of emotions from symbols on the keyboard:

• Joy or a smile is most often depicted using symbols:) either:-)or =)
• Uncontrollable laughter (equivalent to the expression LOL) :-D either: D or))))
• Another designation for laughter, but more like mockery () XD or xD or >:-D (schadenfreude)
• Laughter to tears, i.e. what does the “tears of joy” emoticon mean :’-) or :’-D
• Insidious grin ):-> or ]:->
• A sad or sorrowful emoticon has text meanings:-(either =(or:(
• Symbolic designation of a very sad smiley: -C or:C or (((((again, a variant of the under-smiley)
• Mild displeasure, confusion or puzzlement: -/ or: -\
• Intense anger D-:
• Text designation of the neutral attitude emoticon:-| either: -I or._. or -_-
• The symbolic meaning of the admiration emoticon is *O* or *_* or **
• Decoding the emotion of surprise: -() or: - or: -0 or: O or O: either o_O or oO or o.O
• Variants of what the emoticon of great surprise or bewilderment 8-O could mean
• either =-O or:-
• Disappointment:-e
• Fury:-E or:E or:-t
• Confusion:-[ or %0
• Sullenness: :-*
• Sadness: :-<

Meaning of text emoticons emotional actions or gestures

• What does a winking smiley mean in text-symbolic form;-) or;)
• Sad joke: ;-(
• Happy joke: ;-)
• Options for designating a crying emoticon:_(or:~(or:"(or:*(
• Joyful crying (means "tears of joy" emoji) :~-
• Sad cry:~-(
• Angry cry: :-@
• Kiss in text notation:-* or:-()
• Hugs ()
• To show your tongue (means to tease) :-P or:-p or:-Ъ
• Mouth shut (means shhh) :-X
• It makes me sick to my stomach (meaning nausea) :-!
• Drunk or embarrassed (means either “I’m drunk” or “you’re drunk”) :*)
• You are a deer E:-) or 3:-)
• You're a clown *:O)
• Heart - either @)~>~~ or @-‘-,’-,—
• Carnation *->->—
• Old joke (meaning accordion) [:|||:] or [:]/\/\/\[:] or [:]|||[:]
• Krezi (means “you’ve gone crazy”) /:-(or /:-]
• Fifth point (_!_)

What do horizontal (Japanese) symbolic emoticons mean?

Horizontal or Japanese character emoticons are those that can be understood without tilting your head to the side, such as with a smiley face :-).

The most common horizontal text emoticons are:

• A smile (joy) is usually indicated: (^_^) or (^____^) or (n_n) or (^ ^) or \(^_^)/
• Sadness in symbols is denoted as: () or (v_v)
• The following symbols mean different degrees of surprise: (o_o) or (0_0) or (O_o) or (o_O) or (V_v) (unpleasant surprise) or (@_@) (meaning “You can be stunned”)
• Emoticon meaning admiration: (*_*) or (*o*) or (*O*)
• I'm sick: (-_-;) or (-_-;)~
• Sleeping: (- . -) Zzz. or (-_-) Zzz. or (u_u)
• Confusion: ^_^" or *^_^* or (-_-«) or (-_-v)
• Anger and rage: (-_-#) or (-_-¤) or (-_-+) or (>__<)
• What does fatigue mean: (>_<) либо (%_%)
• Depression (u_u)
• Jealousy: 8 (>_<) 8
• Distrust: (>>) or (>_>) or (<_<)
• Indifference: -__- or =__=
• This emoticon text expression means misunderstanding: (?_?) or ^o^;>
• The meaning is close to the crying emoticon: (;_;) or (T_T) or (TT.TT) or (ToT) or Q__Q
• What does winking mean: (^_~) or (^_-)
• Kiss: ^)(^ either (^)...(^) or (^)(^^)
• High five (means friend): =X= or (^_^)(^_^)
• Carrot Love: (^3^) or (*^) 3 (*^^*)
• Apology: m (._.) m
• Greedy emoticon: ($_$)

Cool emoticons from symbols

Cool emoticons consisting of several symbols - your imagination is limitless.

Emoticons have become such a part of our lives that without them the alphabet looks incomplete, and messages seem dry and distant. But even such a frivolous and childishly simple task as arranging emojis has its own subtleties.

What do different emoticons mean?

With object emoticons, everything is simple: they mean what they represent. A ball is a ball, an alarm clock is an alarm clock, and there’s nothing to think about. But with face emoticons the task becomes more complicated. We are not always able to correctly guess emotions from the faces of living people, let alone the faces of koloboks. There are emoticons whose meaning is obvious:

Fun, laughter, joy, rejoicing.

Sadness, melancholy, melancholy, dissatisfaction.

Playful mood, teasing.

Surprise, amazement, shock, fear.

Anger, resentment, rage.

And several more similar ones - all possible options for families and romantic unions.

But among the emoticons there are also those whose meaning can be interpreted ambiguously, or even be completely confusing:

This emoticon depicts a person sobbing in three - well, in two - streams, however, in the version for Apple devices, due to raised eyebrows and a mouth that is not distorted from sobs, he is often perceived as laughing to the point of tears. Be careful with them: you want to indicate grief to them, but they will misunderstand you.

This emoticon is intended to represent silence. Instead, he just scares you to death.

If everything is more or less clear with the evil devil (“angry as hell”), then the cheerful devil is somewhat puzzling. Most likely, he is not only furious, but also looking forward to dancing on your opponent’s grave. But you, perhaps, just wanted to show originality and an unusual smiley.

Despite the fact that the three wise monkeys did not see, hear or speak anything precisely because of their wisdom, these muzzles cover their eyes, mouth and ears in shame, confusion and shock.

A set of cat emoticons for those who consider ordinary koloboks to be insufficiently expressive and want to add sweetness to their emotions.

Instead of “hello” and “bye,” you can wave your hand.

Raised hands, a gesture of joyful greeting or jubilation.

The applause is both sincere and sarcastic.

If in this picture you see hands folded in a prayer gesture, then for you the emoji may mean “thank you” or “I beg you.” Well, if you see a high-five happening here, it means you are a very cheerful person.

A raised index finger can emphasize the importance of a message or express a request to interrupt the interlocutor with a question, or it can simply indicate a previous message in the chat.

Fingers crossed for luck.

For some it’s “stop”, but for others it’s “high five!”

No, it's not a truffle. Not even a truffle at all.

Ogre and Japanese goblin. Looks like someone is missing the usual devils.

Liar. His nose grows like Pinocchio's every time he lies.

These are eyes wide with amazement, and the darting eyes of a scoundrel, and even a lustful look. If someone sends you such an emoticon in a comment to a photo, you can be sure that the photo is good.

And it's just an eye, and it's watching you.

New moon and full moon. It seems like nothing special, but these emoticons have their fans who value them for their creepy facial expressions.

A very common girl in purple. Her gestures mean OK (arms above head), “no” (arms crossed), “hello” or “I know the answer” (hand raised). This character has another pose that confuses many - . According to the official version, it symbolizes a help desk employee. Apparently, she shows with her hand how to get to the city library.

Do you also see two tense faces here, presumably in an unfriendly mood? But they didn’t guess: according to Apple’s hints, this is an embarrassed face and a stubborn face. Who would have thought!

By the way, you can see hints for emoticons in the message window on if you open an emoji and hover over the emoticon you are interested in. Like this:

Another way to find out the meaning of an emoticon is to turn to emojipedia.org for help. On it you will find not only detailed interpretations of emoticons, but you can also see how the same emoticon looks on different platforms. Many unexpected discoveries await you.

Where are emoticons appropriate?

1. In informal friendly correspondence

Funny yellow faces are appropriate in a personal chat, where you share not so much information as your mood. With the help of emoticons, you will laugh at a joke, sympathize, and make faces at each other. This is where emotions belong.

2. When emotions splash over the edge and there are not enough words

Sometimes, when something very important happens in our lives, we are so overwhelmed with feelings that we are about to burst. Then we write an emotional post on Facebook or post a dazzling photo on Instagram and decorate it with a generous scattering of emoticons. Some people, of course, won’t like this, but what now, stifling all the bright sensations in yourself? The main thing is not to overuse such public displays of violent emotions: this will alienate subscribers and call into question your adequacy.

3. By agreement, to highlight messages in work correspondence

This is a very simple and convenient way to make important messages that require an urgent response visible. For example, great for these purposes. But you need to agree in advance which cases are considered urgent in your company and what emoticon you will use for this.

It’s important not to overdo it: if you have one emoticon for messages about emergency situations, a second for urgent issues, a third for important news, then soon all your work correspondence will turn into a New Year’s garland that no one looks at.

When is it better to do without emoticons?

1. In business correspondence

Work is no place for emotions. Here you are required to be calm, collected and professional. Even if you want to emphasize your friendliness or express concern about a situation, use , not emoticons, for these purposes.

2. When communicating with foreigners

This is especially true for gesture emoticons. For example, the person you wanted to express approval of will put an end to your good relationship with a person from Greece or Thailand. Of course, with this gesture you sent him to hell.

Therefore, if you are not confident in your deep knowledge of the peculiarities of the national culture of your interlocutor, do not take risks.

3. Oddly enough, when you discuss feelings and emotions

Feelings are a serious matter. If you are not just chatting, but revealing your soul or sharing something important, words will convey your feelings and experiences much more accurately than emoticons. “You are dearer to me than anyone in the world” means much more than ten hearts in a row. In the end, you only have one heart, so give it away.

Remember that emojis are a seasoning, not the main ingredient. You only need a small amount to add punch to your message.

Emoji language

Judging by the fact that today almost no personal correspondence is complete without emoticons, we can safely say that emoji have become an independent section of the language. Sometimes they even pretend to replace language: you can write an entire message using only emoticons. In the popular American TV show Ellen DeGeneres there is even a special section in which guests are invited to read a phrase where some of the words are replaced with emoji:

And here the name of the film is encrypted, which we invite you to guess.

For example, two palms clasped together can be interpreted in different ways - perhaps they symbolize prayer, but it is also possible that these are two people greeting each other with the words “High Five”. How to understand the meaning of certain emojis? We bring to your attention a few tips that will help you understand the meaning of emoticons on iPhone, iPad and macOS.

Many users mistake this picture for a crying face. In fact, the drop is not a tear, but sweat, meaning relief after the excitement experienced.

Don't be fooled, this is not a nut at all, but a roasted sweet potato.

What appears at first glance to be a pyramid of ping-pong balls is actually a "harvest festival card" symbolizing a Japanese traditional ceremony that occurs during the Tsukimi festival.

If you think it's an acorn, you're wrong. It's actually a chestnut.

This picture should not be used as a greeting card as it is nothing more than a bookmark.

This gesture means “OK” and indicates that everything is fine with you.

Raised palms do not mean an appeal to higher powers, but symbolize joy.

This “smiley” means severe irritation and a nervous state. Many users mistakenly use it to express contempt.

What looks like a black cube actually symbolizes the Muslim shrine of the Kaaba located in Mecca.

No, this girl does not have deer antlers growing on her head. They just give her a facial massage.

Often users resort to this picture when they want to express denial, but in fact it symbolizes the person at the information board.

This is not a dance move at all, as it may seem, but open arms.

This boy didn't hide or think. Believe it or not, he bows.

A “smiley” without a mouth symbolizes silence. It is often used to express confusion, fear, and sometimes it is used as a "Kolobok".

You might think it's fire, but it's actually a name badge.

This sign is not a fancy image of a house at all, but a symbol of anger.

The picture below appeared with the release of iOS 10.2. Some people might see a glass of whiskey here, but in reality it's just a glass.