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

Sprouse’s twin brother, Cole, shared an image on his Instagram story Thursday of the couple at the Cannes Film Festival, and added three red heart emojis. —Amarachi Orie, CNN Money, 15 May 2026

On his Instagram Stories, Cole posted a picture of the expectant parents, simply adding three red heart emojis. —Kayla Grant, PEOPLE, 15 May 2026

Mahomes’ personal trainer, Bobby Stroupe, commented on the post with clapping emojis. —Pj Green, Kansas City Star, 15 May 2026

The official praised her work, sending a couple of thumbs up emojis. —Vanessa Romo, NPR, 14 May 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