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

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

Daniel wrote in a Substack post on July 14 announcing the new emojis. — Greta Cross, USA Today, 17 July 2026

Realizing they are being had, Cubans respond to their government on the chat with emojis of excrement or the US flag. — Patrick Oppmann, CNN Money, 15 July 2026

Lane took to Instagram Sunday night following the draft, posting a picture of himself in an Arkansas jersey with a home and heart emojis. — Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 13 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