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

Many commented with bats, pumpkins and others emojis and symbols. —Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 19 July 2025

Fans and friends alike shared their support in the comment section with Naomi Campbell adding several fire emojis. —Angel Saunders, People.com, 18 July 2025

Questlove simply shared a post about the news on his Instagram Story and added a side-eye emoji. —Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 18 July 2025

Prince William and Princess Kate wrote on Instagram Stories and X with a birthday cake emoji alongside a new portrait of the Queen Buckingham Palace released on her birthday eve. —Lissete Lanuza Sáenz, StyleCaster, 18 July 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