The Most Misunderstood Emoji: What They Really Mean

Emoji Are Not As Obvious As You Think

I used to think emoji were simple. A smiley face means happy. A heart means love. A thumbs up means approval. Easy, right? Then I spent years researching emoji for this website and discovered just how wrong I was -- and how wrong most of us are -- about what many common emoji actually mean.

The gap between what emoji were designed to represent and how people actually use them is enormous. Some emoji have official Unicode descriptions that would surprise you. Others have been adopted by internet culture in ways their designers never anticipated. And some are genuinely ambiguous, with different meanings across generations, cultures, and platforms.

Let me take you through the most misunderstood emoji, one by one. I guarantee at least a few of these will surprise you.

The Folded Hands: Prayer or High-Five?

Let us start with the big one. The emoji showing two hands pressed together (often rendered with a slight glow or light rays) is officially named "Person with Folded Hands" in Unicode. Its intended meaning includes prayer, gratitude, and the Japanese gesture of apology or greeting.

It is not a high-five.

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen people use this emoji as a high-five, complete with messages like "Great job, high five!" The confusion is understandable -- two hands pressing together could look like two people slapping palms. But look carefully: it is clearly two hands belonging to the same person, pressed together in a prayer or "namaste" gesture.

On Apple devices, the hands even have a subtle glow effect that emphasizes the spiritual or grateful connotation. Google's version shows the hands with a slight gap, reinforcing the prayer interpretation.

The correct uses: thanking someone, asking for something ("please"), expressing hope, spiritual prayer, or the Japanese bow greeting. Not a celebration high-five.

The Skull: Death or Hilarity?

This one has become a generational marker. The skull emoji (and its cousin, the skull and crossbones) officially represents death, danger, or a skull. Its Unicode name is simply "Skull."

But if you are under thirty, you probably use it to mean "I am dying of laughter." It has become one of the most popular ways to express that something is extremely funny, particularly among Gen Z users. "That is so funny I am dead" became just the skull emoji.

This dual meaning creates genuine confusion in cross-generational conversations. I have seen parents worry when their teenagers send skull emoji in response to a joke, interpreting it as a negative reaction. And I have seen younger users confused when older people use the skull in its literal sense.

Context is everything with this one. In a conversation about something funny, skull means laughter. In a conversation about danger, poison, or pirates, it means what it has always meant.

The Slightly Smiling Face: Friendly or Passive-Aggressive?

The slightly smiling face emoji -- with its gentle, understated smile -- was designed to convey mild happiness or contentment. It is the most basic positive expression in the emoji library.

But in modern internet culture, particularly in text messages and workplace chats, this emoji has become loaded with passive-aggressive subtext. Sending a message that ends with a slightly smiling face can feel dismissive, sarcastic, or even threatening, depending on context.

"Sure, I will handle it" reads very differently from "Sure, I will handle it" followed by the slightly smiling face. The second version has a distinct "I am going to handle it, but I am NOT happy about it" energy.

This shift happened because the slightly smiling face is so mild, so neutral, that it feels deliberately restrained. In a world of enthusiastic emoji (the grinning face, the face with tears of joy, the heart-eyes face), choosing the blandest possible smile feels like a statement.

Of course, many people still use it sincerely to express genuine, mild happiness. The meaning depends heavily on who is sending it and the conversational context.

The Upside-Down Face: Silly or Unhinged?

The upside-down face emoji was added to Unicode in 2015, and its official description is "Upside-Down Face." That is not very helpful, is it? The Unicode Consortium describes it as conveying silliness, sarcasm, irony, or passive aggression.

In practice, this emoji has become the "everything is fine but nothing is actually fine" emoji. It communicates a sense of resigned acceptance, gentle chaos, or the feeling that things are going wrong but you have decided not to care.

"My flight is delayed six hours" followed by the upside-down face conveys something very specific: acknowledgment of a bad situation combined with a dark humor coping mechanism. It is more precise than a sad face (which would be too sincere) and less aggressive than an angry face.

Some people also use it for genuine silliness and playfulness, which is closer to its original intent. The dual meaning is what makes it one of the most versatile and misunderstood emoji in the set.

The Peach: Fruit or Anatomy?

Let us address the elephant in the room. The peach emoji is officially a peach. It is in the Food and Drink category. Its Unicode name is "Peach." It was designed to represent the fruit.

But due to its shape, the peach emoji has become one of the most widely recognized innuendo emoji, representing a part of human anatomy that I will let you figure out on your own.

This double meaning is so pervasive that Apple once tried to redesign the peach to look more like an actual peach (rounder, more obviously a fruit). The internet backlash was so intense that Apple reverted the change. People wanted their suggestive peach back.

The result is that using the peach emoji in its literal, fruity sense can cause unintended reactions. Posting about your peach cobbler recipe with peach emoji might raise some eyebrows.

The Eggplant: A Vegetable With Baggage

In the same category as the peach, the eggplant emoji is officially just an eggplant (or aubergine, if you are in Europe). It sits innocently in the Food and Drink section of your emoji keyboard.

But you know. Everyone knows. The eggplant emoji has become the most universally recognized suggestive emoji in the entire Unicode standard. Its shape has made it a stand-in for male anatomy to such a degree that some platforms have reportedly considered filtering it from certain contexts.

If you genuinely want to talk about eggplants in a culinary context, you might want to spell it out in text rather than using the emoji. Or embrace the ambiguity and let context do the work.

The Information Desk Person: Sassy or Helpful?

The emoji showing a person with one hand raised, palm up, is officially called "Information Desk Person." It was designed to represent someone at an information desk, offering help with a welcoming gesture.

In practice, this emoji has become the ultimate sass symbol. The hand gesture, combined with the slightly tilted head on most platforms, reads as "Well, obviously" or "I told you so." It is deployed when someone wants to make a point with a dash of attitude.

The transformation from helpful desk worker to sassy queen is one of the most dramatic emoji meaning shifts in history. Almost nobody uses this emoji to indicate they need directions to gate B7.

The Face with Steam from Nose: Angry or Triumphant?

This emoji shows a face with two puffs of air coming from the nostrils. Most people interpret it as anger -- the cartoon convention of "so mad steam is coming out of my nose."

But its official Unicode name is "Face with Look of Triumph." It was designed to represent triumph, determination, or victory -- like a bull snorting before a charge, or someone huffing with pride after accomplishing something.

The anger interpretation has become so dominant that even Unicode seems to have accepted it. The emoji is now commonly listed in "angry" or "frustrated" categories in many emoji pickers. This is a case where popular usage has essentially overwritten the original meaning.

The Dizzy Symbol: Stars or Impact?

The emoji that looks like a small star or sparkle with a circular motion trail is officially called "Dizzy." It represents dizziness, as in the cartoon convention of seeing stars when you are dazed.

Many people use it as a generic sparkle or star, decorating messages about glamour, magic, or excitement. This usage has become so common that it is practically a second official meaning. The actual sparkle emoji exists separately, but the dizzy symbol gets pressed into sparkle duty regularly.

The Hundred Points: Perfect Score or Keeping It Real?

The "100" emoji -- showing the number 100 in red with a double underline -- originally represents a perfect score. Its Unicode name is "Hundred Points Symbol," referencing the idea of scoring 100 out of 100 on a test.

In modern slang, it has evolved to mean "keeping it real," "one hundred percent," "absolute truth," or "I completely agree." When someone says something authentic or genuine, responding with the hundred emoji signals your wholehearted agreement and respect.

This evolution makes sense -- going from "perfect score" to "perfectly said" is a natural semantic extension.

The Loudly Crying Face: Sad or Overwhelmed?

The face with streams of tears pouring down is "Loudly Crying Face" in Unicode. It represents intense sadness or grief.

But in practice, this emoji often expresses being overwhelmed by any strong emotion -- including positive ones. "This puppy video" followed by the loudly crying face usually does not mean the video is sad. It means the video is so cute or so moving that the person is emotionally overwhelmed.

It is also frequently used for humor, representing the "I am crying laughing" sensation as an alternative to the face with tears of joy emoji.

The Person Bowing: Bowing or Doing Push-Ups?

The emoji showing a person bent forward at the waist is officially "Person Bowing Deeply." It represents the Japanese dogeza bow -- a deep bow of apology, gratitude, or extreme respect.

Western audiences sometimes interpret this emoji as someone doing push-ups, exercising, or even faceplanting. The cultural context gap explains this misunderstanding: deep bowing is a significant gesture in Japanese culture but less common in Western contexts.

If someone sends you this emoji, they are expressing deep gratitude, sincere apology, or begging for something. Not showing off their workout routine.

The Moyai: Easter Island or What?

The Moai emoji (the stone head statue) represents the famous Moai statues of Easter Island. Its Unicode name is "Moyai," which is the Japanese name for these statues.

On the internet, particularly on platforms like Reddit and TikTok, the Moai has become a meme symbol. It is used to represent a deadpan expression, stone-cold composure, or a "bruh" reaction. The stone face literally became a "stone-faced" reaction emoji.

This memetic usage is so widespread that many younger users do not even associate it with Easter Island. To them, it is just the stoic reaction emoji.

The Folding Hand Fan: Elegance or Gossip?

This relatively newer emoji was designed to represent a hand fan, associated with various cultural traditions of fan usage across Asia and Europe. Its literal meaning is simply the object.

In practice, it has been adopted as a gossip or "spill the tea" gesture on social media. The fan creates an image of someone fanning themselves while hearing juicy gossip, or using the fan to hide their scandalized expression. This usage is rooted in the historical association of fans with secretive communication in various cultures.

Why Meanings Shift

Emoji meanings shift for the same reasons word meanings shift: culture, context, and usage. When enough people use a symbol in a new way, that new meaning becomes real. Language is democratic, and emoji are no exception.

Several factors accelerate emoji meaning shifts. Meme culture can assign new meaning to an emoji overnight. A viral TikTok using an emoji in a novel way can permanently change how millions of people interpret it. Generational differences in communication style create divergent meanings for the same symbols. Cultural differences mean that an emoji can carry completely different connotations in different countries.

How to Deal with Emoji Ambiguity

My advice after years of studying emoji meanings: always consider your audience. If you are communicating with someone from a different generation, culture, or platform, be aware that your emoji might be interpreted differently than you intend.

When in doubt, use emoji alongside text that clarifies your meaning. The emoji should complement your words, not replace them. And if you receive an emoji that confuses you, ask. It is always better to clarify than to assume.

Emoji are a living, evolving language. Their meanings are not fixed in stone -- not even the Moai. Embracing that fluidity, rather than fighting it, makes you a more effective and empathetic digital communicator.