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

In the picture, the little one, whose face was covered with a pumpkin emoji, could be seen standing on the seat of the driver's side of a stationary vehicle. —Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 4 Nov. 2025

After the trade was announced, Seahawks star WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba reacted with an eye emoji, garnering an immediate response from Olave. —Rowan Fisher-Shotton, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2025

In the comments section, her husband shared love for Jepsen and their baby by dropping three heart-eyes emojis. —Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Nov. 2025

Nearly 4,000 people have left thumbs-up and laughing emojis on the Facebook post. —Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 30 Oct. 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