Emoji dictionary, or how to find out the meaning of emoji on Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. What does emoji mean? How did the Japanese emoji style come about?

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Emoji or emoji are a set of symbols or pictures that can be used to express emotions when writing.

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Very often they are called emoticons, but there are several significant differences, the main one being that emoji can be used not only in personal correspondence, but also in public texts to attract the reader’s attention.

How did emoji come about?

There is no exact wording of what an emoji is. In fact, this is an expanded set of emoticons. But if emoticons can only express emotions - joy, sadness, anger, then emoji can mean actions or states.

This language appeared thanks to Apple, which decided to provide its smartphones with additional functions. It is worth saying that they are now at the peak of popularity, since with their help users can convey their feelings. On the Internet you can find specialized portals dedicated to them - Emojipedia, Emojitracker.com, Emojinalysis.

The Relationship Between Emojis and Internet Marketing

It is worth touching on the theory - the main driving force of marketing is the creation of a trusting relationship between the seller and the buyer. If we turn to analytical research, many world-famous brands use emojis in their publications on social networks (for example, in 2017, more than 800 million publications from well-known companies using emojis were published).

The use of emoji in texts is a step forward for readers. You add emotion to the text, along with ordinary words. Reading such material, the user will inevitably experience some emotions. This is what a marketer needs - to evoke positive thoughts in the reader that will be associated with the promoted brand.

How Emojis Can Help in Marketing

Before you insert emoji into text and start experimenting with your brand, you need to answer a few basic questions:

• does the emotional component of an emoji coincide with the ability of potential clients to adequately perceive information;
• whether feedback improves or not using auxiliary symbols;
• are there emojis that correspond to the brand’s theme or the specifics of the advertising campaign;
• whether the content creator knows all the meanings of the symbols used.

To do this, you need to evaluate the target audience. If these are “serious men and women” who are already over 40, the use of emoticons is unlikely to be justified. They came in search of serious materials, and they will have no desire to read words between a bunch of emojis.

On the contrary, if your audience is young people who primarily pursue emotions, and only then practical value, feel free to warm up the reader with such emotions. This would be appropriate here.

Examples of successful uses of emoji in marketing

Skeptics may say that emoticons added to the text of an advertisement will not influence the promotion of a product or service, but there are several successful examples of the opposite:

• Disney. On YouTube you can find a video from this company, made in the emoji style, which marked the beginning of a whole series of similar cartoons.

There are hundreds of similar examples, but it is necessary to use emojis as an additional tool carefully, as you can simply scare off the client with too friendly treatment.

Emoji and CTR in search results

Using emoji in text content is a fairly simple way to use them, but many are interested in the question of whether it is possible to use emoji in a snippet.

This is due to the fact that the presence of additional symbols corresponding to the theme of the site will attract the attention of the user looking for information on the search engine results pages.

And it's possible! Robots understand the emoji code and display it correctly in the snippet. To insert special characters into HTML code, you need to enter a fairly simple combination of characters: (XXXXXX is the character code according to the international classification). The most clickable symbols in snippets are considered to be musical icons, a pencil arrow, letters of other alphabets, a telephone and a number placed in a circle.

If you figure out what can be affected by inserting emoji into meta tags, then this is one of the simple options for increasing CTR in search engine results. At the same time, headings with such symbols are much more attractive to the user, as they make it possible to highlight the advantages of the site and its main direction of work.

Specifics of using emoji

The use of emoji symbols provides a wide scope for creativity and creativity, with their help you can:

• attract the user's attention by receiving an increase in traffic;
• visualize emotions, making communication more relaxed;
• attract foreign users, since this is an international language;
• reduce space on the display of mobile devices, giving the user the opportunity to receive more information.

Emoji) are not a by-product of the development of society. This is the style of icons (emoticons). Today they have become an important part of the history and culture of the whole world. Emoji have found their place in the heart of almost every Internet user.

Many people don’t know what they are, but those who know and come across them all the time believe that emojis are just another form of entertainment. In fact, this is not true at all.

What is it? What are they needed for? We will try to figure this out in this article.

Smiley, emoji and sticker

Let's find out what it is? It's not exactly the same thing. An emoticon expresses emotions using the usual standard punctuation, for example “:-”).

Emoji is a code (an ordinary standard character from Unicode), which is available on all platforms that support it, and is typed and transmitted with only one specific code (for example, “\xF0\x9F\x98\x81”).

A sticker is simply a picture transmitted by a file or link.

Definition of Emoji

It is a language of emoticons and ideograms used in various web pages and electronic messages. This is a way of communicating using graphics - instead of ordinary words, combinations of pictures are used here. This language first appeared in Japan and then spread throughout the world.

Some of its symbols have quite specific meanings in Japanese culture. Here are some of them:

• white flower (indicates perfectly completed homework);
• bowing businessman;
• a group of symbols representing popular food: dango, ramen, sushi, etc.

There are also emoticons that arose at the initiative of Internet users, and unlike emoji, they are a means of conveying emotions using existing typographic means. Emojis represent faces.

History of origin

The very first emoji were created by Shigetaka Kurita in 1998-1999. He was a member of the group working at that time to create the i-mode Internet platform.

Then a set of emojis was created - these are 172 characters with dimensions of 12 × 12 pixels. They were part of the i-mode messaging features and were designed to make electronic communication easier and faster.

Nicolas Laufrani began experimenting with animated emoticons back in 1997 to create colorful icons that could match existing ASCII emoticons. The latter consisted only of simple punctuation marks. Thus, Loufrani created the first graphic emoticons that were included in the online dictionary. Moreover, they were divided into categories: “Emotions”, “Classical”, “Holidays”, “Planets”, “Food”, “Flags”, “Sports”, “Babies”, “Nationalities”, “Entertainment”, “Weather” , “Animals”, “Professions” and many others. etc.

All of these images were registered with the US Copyright Office in 1997 and then posted online as GIFs in 1998. Thus, they became the first graphic emoticons in world history, which began to be used in various technologies.

What are emojis for?

Today, emojis are another way to quickly communicate. Written speech has one significant drawback compared to oral speech - the difficulty of conveying emotions. After all, when exchanging information in writing, the interlocutors do not see each other’s facial expressions and gestures. In addition to everything, someone writing on the Internet needs to have fast typing skills.

Of course, there are talented people (for example, writers) who can clearly and accurately convey emotions in words, but there are few of them, and there is simply not enough time for this when communicating through chat and other instant messaging services. Therefore, it was necessary to come up with something that could facilitate such communication by simply inserting a code or symbol into the text, so that the output would be an expression of emotion that reflects the state of the speaker.

It was precisely this problem that at one time contributed to the emergence of Internet slang, although it does not really help convey emotions towards the written text or its author. But this was not enough - a serious breakthrough was needed.

Initially, the solution to this issue was emoticons. But at first, their use was not considered a serious matter, but now it is acceptable even in business correspondence (for example, a colon with a stick and a parenthesis). Moreover, in this case, it won’t even matter if these icons are not converted into a smiley picture. Because everyone has long been accustomed to them, everyone understands what emotion these punctuation marks reproduce.

Peculiarities

Emoji is a smiley that makes it easier for people to communicate on social media. networks and retelling the plots of famous works and films. When asked who needs this network, the creators of emoji.li (social network) answered that no one needed Twitter at first either.

It should be noted that emoji are actively involved in pop culture. These amazing ones even played an almost dominant role in the video for Katy Perry - Roar (in one version).

As a result, emojis slowly spread throughout the world because they are very useful, funny and cute.

Conclusion

Not all emotions can be conveyed in printed words. Emoji are a wonderful find. Probably, it is still impossible to argue that with their help you can fully correspond, but one thing is clear: it is also impossible to imagine communication without emoji at all. For example, they can quite easily convey excessive tragic sadness and contain self-irony. Emojis have proven that they are capable of many things.

Today it is almost impossible to imagine communication in chats and social networks without the use of emoticons. They are able to give a network conversation the necessary degree of emotionality, which is difficult to express with a regular set of letters and symbols.

In recent years, a unique Japanese icon style that users have never encountered before has begun to gain popularity. Many began to wonder what emoji means and why this particular set of emoticons has become extremely popular. After all, it is the Emoji standard that is used today in many instant messengers and social networks.

What does emoji mean? Where did the new emoji standard come from?

Emoji first appeared in Japan. The unique icon style has been developed since 1998. Despite the exotic origin of emoticons, even Europeans in most cases can easily understand what an emoji means. Only in a minority of cases do you have to turn to reference books on the Internet to understand what a particular image means.

For the first time, the operator NTT-Docomo began working with Emoji. The emoticon standard has attracted the attention of managers of large companies based in the United States. As a result, even the guys from Google began to use them. In 2009, they added emoji to their Gmail email system. But even after this step, the standard still has not gained the popularity it has now.

In 2009, many users still found it difficult to tell what emoji emoticons meant when they encountered unfamiliar images. Real success came to the developers of the standard in 2010. It was then that Emoji were officially included in the Unicode standard.

How to pronounce

There are 2 main pronunciation options for the foreign name Emoji. In both cases, the emphasis is on the letter “o”. Some fans of the presented icon style believe that it is more correct to say “emoji”. However, the most common pronunciation is "emoji". This is how a sound close to the Japanese original is achieved.

To better understand what emoji emoticons mean, it is necessary to understand the etymology (origin) of the term. The name of the original icon style consists of two Japanese words:

• “e” - “picture”;
• "moji" - "letter", "written symbol".

If you combine two words together, then in the Russian version there will be something similar to a “letter-picture”. Although, perhaps a more suitable option would be a “picture symbol”.

Distinctive features of emoji

Emoji icons have a lot in common with standard emoticons from chats like ICQ and others. But there are also significant differences. Thus, emoji symbols are noticeably larger than in the classic version of “funny faces”. They are also much more diverse, allowing you to convey almost the full range of human emotions that he is only capable of experiencing.

Why is it often difficult for representatives of European culture to understand what an emoji means? After all, they are so similar to standard emoticons. The problem arises when a person encounters an incomprehensible symbol that he has not encountered before. The reason for this phenomenon lies in the origin of the icon style. After all, it was developed in the Land of the Rising Sun. So only representatives of Japanese culture easily understand the meaning of any symbol. Other people may need clarification.

Most Popular Emoji Icons

The Emoji icon set provides a huge number of different images for all occasions. One of the most colorful characters in the Japanese set of emoticons is the monkey. What is remarkable about the image of this animal? And what do the monkey emoji icons mean? Without additional explanation, it is really difficult to understand the meaning of this symbol. However, the explanation is quite simple.

The monkey, who closes his eyes, advises the interlocutor on the other side of the screen to “not notice evil.” To be even more precise, by sending an image of a cute primate to an opponent, a person seems to be asking him not to concentrate on the negative side of the matter. In this way, you can also let the interlocutor know that his message seems angry and repulsive.

Many people who are keen on communicating on the Internet are also interested in the question of what the emoji with the image of a white flower means. Some people believe that if they were sent such a message, it means the interlocutor is trying to flirt. In fact, such a symbol in Japanese culture just means homework done well. This is a way for a person to tell the other party that he did a great job.

And Apple has added more than 150 new emoji characters, many of which are particularly original. Fortunately, finding out exactly what an emoticon means in iOS and OS X is very easy, and in this guide we'll show you how to do it in several different ways.

It’s not for nothing that the emoji language is called the “language of the future.” Over the past few years, emoticons of the emoji standard have practically replaced Internet slang from social networks. In the future, experts believe, emoji will be used not only in communication, and we will begin to see small, self-explanatory pictograms everywhere.

Interesting fact: according to Instagram representatives, emoji are used in every second message left by users under photos.

Apple is also actively promoting emoji. The latest updates to iOS and OS X have given owners of Apple devices access to more than 150 new different emoticons, the meaning of many of which is not particularly clear at first glance.

How to Find Out What a Smiley Means in OS X

Step 1: Launch the Messages app and tap the emoji button
Step 2. In the panel that opens, find the emoticon whose designation you want to know

Step 3: Hover over an emoji and wait for the smiley symbol to appear

How to find out what an emoji means in iOS

Unlike OS X, in iOS you won’t be able to find out the designation of a specific emoji by simply clicking on the emoticon. The method cannot be called ideal also because the system provides emoji descriptions in English.

Step 1: Go to Menu Settings -> Basic -> Universal access -> Speech and activate the option " Pronunciation»

Step 2. Write in any application an emoticon or several emoji whose designation you want to know

Step 3. Select the written text and select “Speak” in the menu that opens

You can also learn about emoticons from your iPhone and iPad using the Emoji Dictionary application. It is free, but has not received an update since the beginning of the year, so Emoji Dictionary cannot provide information about all existing emoji. A complete list of all current emojis, again in English, can be found on the Emojipedia website.

How to activate the Emoji keyboard on iPhone and iPad?

Step 1: Go to Menu Settings -> Basic -> Keyboard

Step 2. Select a section Keyboards -> New keyboards

Step 3. Scroll to the end of the list and select " Emoji»

You can now send emoji in any app by switching to the emoji panel using the language switch button.

Emoticons have become such a part of our lives that without them the alphabet looks incomplete, and messages seem dry and distant. But even such a frivolous and childishly simple task as arranging emojis has its own subtleties.

What do different emoticons mean?

With object emoticons, everything is simple: they mean what they represent. A ball is a ball, an alarm clock is an alarm clock, and there’s nothing to think about. But with face emoticons the task becomes more complicated. We are not always able to correctly guess emotions from the faces of living people, let alone the faces of koloboks. There are emoticons whose meaning is obvious:

Fun, laughter, joy, rejoicing.

Sadness, melancholy, melancholy, dissatisfaction.

Playful mood, teasing.

Surprise, amazement, shock, fear.

Anger, resentment, rage.

And several more similar ones - all possible options for families and romantic unions.

But among the emoticons there are also those whose meaning can be interpreted ambiguously, or even be completely confusing:

This emoticon depicts a person sobbing in three - well, in two - streams, however, in the version for Apple devices, due to raised eyebrows and a mouth that is not distorted from sobs, he is often perceived as laughing to the point of tears. Be careful with them: you want to indicate grief to them, but they will misunderstand you.

This emoticon is intended to represent silence. Instead, he just scares you to death.

If everything is more or less clear with the evil devil (“angry as hell”), then the cheerful devil is somewhat puzzling. Most likely, he is not only furious, but also looking forward to dancing on your opponent’s grave. But you, perhaps, just wanted to show originality and an unusual smiley.

Despite the fact that the three wise monkeys did not see, hear or speak anything precisely because of their wisdom, these muzzles cover their eyes, mouth and ears in shame, confusion and shock.

A set of cat emoticons for those who consider ordinary koloboks to be insufficiently expressive and want to add sweetness to their emotions.

Instead of “hello” and “bye,” you can wave your hand.

Raised hands, a gesture of joyful greeting or jubilation.

The applause is both sincere and sarcastic.

If in this picture you see hands folded in a prayer gesture, then for you the emoji may mean “thank you” or “I beg you.” Well, if you see a high-five happening here, it means you are a very cheerful person.

A raised index finger can emphasize the importance of a message or express a request to interrupt the interlocutor with a question, or it can simply indicate a previous message in the chat.

Fingers crossed for luck.

For some it’s “stop”, but for others it’s “high five!”

No, it's not a truffle. Not even a truffle at all.

Ogre and Japanese goblin. Looks like someone is missing the usual devils.

Liar. His nose grows like Pinocchio's every time he lies.

These are eyes wide with amazement, and the darting eyes of a scoundrel, and even a lustful look. If someone sends you such an emoticon in a comment to a photo, you can be sure that the photo is good.

And it's just an eye, and it's watching you.

New moon and full moon. It seems like nothing special, but these emoticons have their fans who value them for their creepy facial expressions.

A very common girl in purple. Her gestures mean OK (arms above head), “no” (arms crossed), “hello” or “I know the answer” (arm raised up). This character has another pose that confuses many - . According to the official version, it symbolizes a help desk employee. Apparently, she is showing with her hand how to get to the city library.

Do you also see two tense faces here, presumably in an unfriendly mood? But they didn’t guess: according to Apple’s hints, this is an embarrassed face and a stubborn face. Who would have thought!

By the way, you can see hints for emoticons in the message window on if you open an emoji and hover over the emoticon you are interested in. Like this:

Another way to find out the meaning of an emoticon is to turn to emojipedia.org for help. On it you will find not only detailed interpretations of emoticons, but you can also see how the same emoticon looks on different platforms. Many unexpected discoveries await you.

Where are emoticons appropriate?

1. In informal friendly correspondence

Funny yellow faces are appropriate in a personal chat, where you share not so much information as your mood. With the help of emoticons, you will laugh at a joke, sympathize, and make faces at each other. This is where emotions belong.

2. When emotions splash over the edge and there are not enough words

Sometimes, when something very important happens in our lives, we are so overwhelmed with feelings that we are about to burst. Then we write an emotional post on Facebook or post a dazzling photo on Instagram and decorate it with a generous scattering of emoticons. Some people, of course, won’t like this, but what now, stifling all the bright sensations in yourself? The main thing is not to overuse such public displays of violent emotions: this will alienate subscribers and call into question your adequacy.

3. By agreement, to highlight messages in work correspondence

This is a very simple and convenient way to make important messages that require an urgent response visible. For example, great for these purposes. But you need to agree in advance which cases are considered urgent in your company and what emoticon you will use for this.

It’s important not to overdo it: if you have one emoticon for messages about emergency situations, a second for urgent issues, a third for important news, then soon all your work correspondence will turn into a New Year’s garland that no one looks at.

When is it better to do without emoticons?

1. In business correspondence

Work is no place for emotions. Here you are required to be calm, collected and professional. Even if you want to emphasize your friendliness or express concern about a situation, use , not emoticons, for these purposes.

2. When communicating with foreigners

This is especially true for gesture emoticons. For example, the person you wanted to express approval of will put an end to your good relationship with a person from Greece or Thailand. Of course, with this gesture you sent him to hell.

Therefore, if you are not confident in your deep knowledge of the peculiarities of the national culture of your interlocutor, do not take risks.

3. Oddly enough, when you discuss feelings and emotions

Feelings are a serious matter. If you are not just chatting, but revealing your soul or sharing something important, words will convey your feelings and experiences much more accurately than emoticons. “You are dearer to me than anyone in the world” means much more than ten hearts in a row. In the end, you only have one heart, so give it away.

Remember that emojis are a seasoning, not the main ingredient. You only need a small amount to add punch to your message.

Emoji language

Judging by the fact that today almost no personal correspondence is complete without emoticons, we can safely say that emoji have become an independent section of the language. Sometimes they even pretend to replace language: you can write an entire message using only emoticons. In the popular American TV show Ellen DeGeneres there is even a special section in which guests are invited to read a phrase where some of the words are replaced with emoji:

And here the name of the film is encrypted, which we invite you to guess.