emoji

noun

emo·​ji ē-ˈmō-jē How to pronounce emoji (audio)
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
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Examples of emoji in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web An exhausted face with bags beneath its eyes is among eight new emoji recently been approved by the Unicode Consortium, a nonprofit that sets emoji standards. Kate Gibson, CBS News, 23 Sep. 2024 Other apps: Messages Messages supports using generic emoji as Tapbacks. Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 18 Sep. 2024 More additions, such as as Apple’s image and emoji generator, more personal Siri responses and integration with ChatGPT, will come later. Todd Haselton, CNBC, 18 Sep. 2024 The first notable release will be in December, including emojis created from generative AI routines, image editing capabilities, and the first use of ChatGPT. Ewan Spence, Forbes, 17 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for emoji 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'emoji.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Japanese, literally, "pictograph," from e "picture, drawing" + moji "letter, character"

First Known Use

1997, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of emoji was in 1997

Dictionary Entries Near emoji

Cite this Entry

“Emoji.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emoji. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.

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
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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