emoji

Borrowed from Japanese 絵文字(えもじ) (emoji), from 絵(え) (e, “picture”) + 文字(もじ) (moji, “character”). False cognate of English emotion and emoticon.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈməʊ.dʒi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmoʊ.d͡ʒi/, /iˈmoʊ.d͡ʒi/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Audio (Australia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊdʒi
• Hyphenation: e‧mo‧ji

emoji (plural emojis or emoji)

2. A digital graphic icon with a unique code point used to represent a concept, object, person, animal or place, originally used in Japanese text messaging but since adopted internationally in other contexts such as social media.

   Coordinate terms: emoticon, kaomoji, sticker

   • 2002, Language International: The Business Resource for a Multilingual Age, volume 14, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 45:

     In order to communicate quickly, many mobile phone users use emoji characters (similar to emoticons) while sending messages. Service providers have also created a set of emoji characters and have added support for it.

   • 2010 April 17, Martin Bryant, “Twitter Reveals Details of New ‘Annotated Tweets’ Feature”, in The Next Web‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 February 2017:

     One of the most exciting announcements at Twitter's Chirp conference this week was "Annotated Tweets". […] The data attached doesn't have to be simple text. Twitter suggests examples such as MIDI data (for music) or emoji (for fancy emoticons).

   • 2011 April 5, Sam Biddle, “IRL Emojis: Our New Favourite Way to Waste Time on the Phone”, in Gizmodo‎^[2], archived from the original on 20 March 2013:

     So what do a bunch of dudes with iPhones do when they haven't eaten all day, are waiting at your restaurant table, starving, annoyed, and need to pass the time. They innovate. They bring emojis to life. In public. […] Give it a shot – it's probably the one semi-practical thing you can do with an emoji […].

   • 2014, "Weird Al" Yankovic, “Word Crimes”:

     Your prose is dopey / Think you should only / Write in emoji

   • 2017, Marcel Danesi, “Emoji Grammar”, in The Semiotics of Emoji (Bloomsbury Advances in Semiotics), London; New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 77:

     Like any natural language grammar, the distribution of emoji in texts, as well as the construction of phrases and sentences with emoji symbols in them, implies a systematic structure, otherwise it would be impossible to literally "read" the emoji texts.

   • 2017 August, Vyvyan Evans, “What’s in a Word?”, in The Emoji Code: The Linguistics behind Smiley Faces and Scaredy Cats, 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Picador, →ISBN, page 102:

     At present, Emoji functions not to replace the linguistic mode, but to complement it – the good old-fashioned English word is not going to be in danger any time soon. Emoji enables, arguably for the first time, a multimodal component to text-based digital communication, providing a code that fills out the communicative message in the linguistic mode, conveyed through text.

   • 2018 March 24, “Apple Wants to Introduce New Emojis for Disabled People”, in BBC News‎^[3], archived from the original on 9 July 2018:

     Apple wants to introduce new emojis to better represent people with disabilities. A guide dog, a wheelchair user and prosthetic limbs are just some of the symbols it's suggested.

   • 2021 October 8, Ori Manor Zuckerman, “The Importance Of Subtext In Digital Communications”, in Forbes‎^[4], archived from the original on 4 June 2025:

     When receiving a message like “We need to talk :(,” the emoticon implies that the conversation will involve bad or sad news. But a message like “I’m going to kill you :)” is most likely sarcastic. With text communication, in particular, it can be incredibly hard to understand intentionality — especially when there’s humor and sarcasm involved. Because of this, emoji and emoticons can be extremely useful to attach an element of feeling and emotion to the message.

   • 2023 July 17, Benjamin Laker, “Emojis in the Modern Workplace: A Psychological Perspective”, in Psychology Today‎^[5], archived from the original on 17 December 2025:

     In addition to promoting efficient communication, emojis foster a sense of camaraderie and unity among coworkers. This was demonstrated during the initial stages of the pandemic when Slack employees used the ❤️ emoji to express solidarity and emotional support.

3. (by extension) Any non-standard emoji-like image inserted inline in text, e.g. an image emoticon. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

• emoji on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• ojime

Borrowed from Japanese 絵文字(えもじ) (emoji).

• IPA^(key): /eːˈmoː.dʒi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: emo‧ji
• Rhymes: -oːdʒi

emoji m (plural emoji's or emoji, no diminutive)

1. emoji

• emoji on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

Borrowed from Japanese 絵文字(えもじ) (emoji), from 絵(え) (e, “picture”) + 文字(もじ) (moji, “character”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈemoji/, [ˈe̞mo̞ji]
• Rhymes: -emoji
• Syllabification^(key): e‧mo‧ji
• Hyphenation^(key): emo‧ji

emoji

1. emoji

• “emoji”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[6] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

• émoji

Borrowed from Japanese 絵文字(えもじ) (emoji), from 絵(え) (e, “picture”) + 文字(もじ) (moji, “character”).

• IPA^(key): /e.mo.(d)ʒi/

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i

emoji m (plural emojis)

1. emoji (“digital graphic icon used to represent a concept or object”)

Borrowed from Japanese 絵文字(えもじ) (emoji), from 絵(え) (e, “picture”) + 文字(もじ) (moji, “character”). The apparent connection to emotion and emoticon is coincidental.

• IPA^(key): /e.mo.d͡ʒi/
• Hyphenation: é‧mo‧ji

emoji (uncountable)

1. a digital graphic icon with a unique code point used to represent a concept or object, originally used in Japanese text messaging but since adopted internationally in other contexts such as social media

Borrowed from Japanese 絵文字(えもじ) (emoji), from 絵(え) (e, “picture”) + 文字(もじ) (moji, “character”).

• IPA^(key): /eˈmɔ.d͡ʒi/
• Rhymes: -ɔdʒi

emoji f or m (invariable)

1. emoji

• emoji in Treccani.it – Neologismi, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

emoji

1. Rōmaji transcription of えもじ

Borrowed from English emoji, from Japanese 絵文字(えもじ) (emoji), from 絵(え) (e, “picture”) + 文字(もじ) (moji, “character”).

emoji m (plural emojis)

1. emoji (“digital graphic icon used to represent a concept or object”)

• “emoji”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from English emoji, from Japanese 絵文字(えもじ) (emoji), from 絵(え) (e, “picture”) + 文字(もじ) (moji, “character”).

• IPA^(key): /e.ˈmo.d͡ʒi/, /e.ˈmo.ʒi/
• Hyphenation: e‧mo‧ji

emoji n (plural emojiuri)

1. emoji (“digital graphic icon used to represent a concept or object”)

• “emoji”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Ultimately from Japanese 絵文字(えもじ) (emoji), from 絵(え) (e, “picture”) + 文字(もじ) (moji, “character”).

• • Rhymes: -oʝi
• IPA^(key): (less common) /eˈmoxi/ [eˈmo.xi]
  • Rhymes: -oxi
  • Syllabification: e‧mo‧ji

emoji m (plural emojis)

1. emoji (“digital graphic icon used to represent a concept or object”)

   Alternative form: emoyi

• “emoji”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “emoji”, in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas [Panhispanic Dictionary of Uncertainties] (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Royal Spanish Academy; Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, 2023, →ISBN
• “¿Se dice /emóji/ o /emóyi/? ?”, in FundéuRAE (Fundación del Español Urgente) [Foundation of Urgent Spanish] (in Spanish), Agencia EFE; Real Academia Española, 10 May 2019

Borrowed from Japanese 絵文字(えもじ) (emoji), from 絵(え) (e, “picture”) + 文字(もじ) (moji, “character”).

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

emoji class IX (plural emoji class X)

1. emoji (“digital graphic icon used to represent a concept or object”).

emoji c

1. an emoji

• “emoji”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “emoji”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

From French émoji, from Japanese 絵文字(えもじ) (emoji), from 絵(え) (e, “picture”) + 文字(もじ) (moji, “character”).

• IPA^(key): /e.mɔ.ʒi/

emoji (definite accusative emojiyi, plural emojiler)

1. emoji (“digital graphic icon used to represent a concept or object”)