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

Shortly after the post went up, Grande commented on it with a plethora of exclamation points and emojis to express her apparent excitement. —Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Dec. 2025

Legend, 46, also found the humor in the situation, leaving several laughing emojis in the comment section. —Bailey Richards, PEOPLE, 23 Dec. 2025

One emoji prompted a social media nightmare for a Greater Cincinnati doughnut shop – and forced them to publicly apologize for insulting the area's LGBTQ+ community. —Randy Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer, 20 Dec. 2025

When sending their donation, patients were told to include an emoji of an orange in the Venmo subject line, according to federal prosecutors, and they were also instructed to bring an orange with them to the waiting room of the clinic. —Jessica Schreifels, CNN Money, 18 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