emoji

Emoji are small digital images or icons used to express ideas, emotions, or objects in electronic messages and web content. The term combines e- (picture) and moji (character) in Japanese. They originated in Japan in the late 1990s, notably on mobile networks such as NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode, created by Shigetaka Kurita. Emoji spread globally in the 2000s with adoption on mobile platforms, messaging apps, and social media.

The Unicode Consortium standardizes emoji; each pictograph is assigned a code point in the Unicode Standard, enabling cross-platform compatibility. Because platforms render characters with their own artwork, the same emoji can look very different across devices. Emoji can be modified with skin tone modifiers based on the Fitzpatrick scale, and sequences using zero width joiners can form composite symbols such as family groups or combinations like thumbs up with skin tone. Emoji presentation can be "text" or "emoji" depending on selectors U+FE0E and U+FE0F; some emoji are default text or emoji presentation. The Emoji Subcommittee within Unicode coordinates proposals and updates, while CLDR annotations provide names and keywords for indexing.

Usage patterns include expressing sentiment, tone, or clarifying ambiguity in text-based communication; researchers note they can aid comprehension but also cause miscommunication when platform variations obscure intent. Emoji have influenced branding, design, and accessibility, with efforts to ensure inclusive representation and compatibility across languages and cultures.