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

Cam Schlittler, no stranger to Boston beef, used an emoji to call Flemming a clown on an Instagram post. — Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 31 Aug. 2026

Fellow Clue star Christopher Lloyd shared a shot of Curry in character on his Instagram Story, adding a heart emoji. — Derek Lawrence, Entertainment Weekly, 26 Aug. 2026

Duvernay and Vandanapu replied to the post with red heart emojis expressing their support for Kaling. — Armando Tinoco, Deadline, 25 Aug. 2026

Another shows the children on a rafting excursion, with their faces covered by fish emojis. — Sameen Chaudhry, USA Today, 19 Aug. 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