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

Know Good’s performance were videos of 3D emojis with limbs chasing after flying dollar bills. — Finnegan Belleau, Chicago Tribune, 1 Aug. 2026

The Storm then promoted Dolson’s shirt on its official social media accounts, adding three speaking-head emojis to make sure no one missed the message. — Dan Zaksheske Outkick, FOXNews.com, 30 July 2026

Topics range from beginner classes on using an iPhone or MacBook to tutorials on shooting better photos, editing videos or designing a custom emoji. — Lauren Schuster, Charlotte Observer, 22 July 2026

Meanwhile, Smith dropped a simple series of emojis, including a star, sparkle and rocket ship. — Natalia Senanayake, PEOPLE, 21 July 2026

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