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

Likes, streaks, and emojis may feel like connection—but face-to-face contact is what builds meaningful intimacy and reinforces communication skills. —Rachel Konrad, Time, 9 Dec. 2025

Bloom showed his appreciation for the joke story in the comments section of the Onion’s Instagram post, responding with three clapping hands emojis. —Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 8 Dec. 2025

Eggert added a series of emojis to the caption, including a party popper and a woman dancing. —Gabrielle Rockson, PEOPLE, 3 Dec. 2025

Services like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Viber allowed free messaging with photos, emojis, unlimited characters, and encryption. —Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 3 Dec. 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