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

The social media post was accompanied by emojis of a knife, an ax and red drops after the statement. —Ishani Desai, Sacbee.com, 8 Jan. 2026

Comments filled with glee and heart emojis, and viewers chimed in from Ireland and London, from Nigeria and Rwanda and Uganda, from Harlem and Arkansas. —Sarah Hepola, Dallas Morning News, 6 Jan. 2026

Her big sister Khloé Kardashian, 41, showed her appreciation in the comments section with a series of doe-eyed emojis and love heart emojis. —Clare Fisher, PEOPLE, 5 Jan. 2026

The Today With Jenna & Friends accountsimply commented with two red heart emojis. —Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Jan. 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