Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
10 Expressive Emoji Facts
😃👇👨🏻💻. Translation? We're so happy you're here to read our emoji facts. Learn about the world's favorite pictographic language with our fun emoji facts.
1. The word “Emoji” is derived from three Japanese words: “e” for picture, “mo” for write, “ji” for character. The seeming similarity to the English word "emotion" is purely coincidental.
2. Although emojis were instantly popular in Japan, where they were initially released, it took over a decade for them to catch on in other nations.
3. Emojis were first created in 1999 and incorporated into Unicode, the universal standard for software programming, in 2010.
4. Unicode, the global standard used to program languages digitally, currently has 2,789 emojis in their standardized list.
5. Oxford Dictionary voted the “face with tears of joy” emoji their 2015 “Word” of the Year.
6. The “extremely shocked” emoji was loosely based on the painting The Scream by Edvard Munch.
7. Every Friday, the BBC publishes the most recent headlines in Emoji and invites radio listeners to call in and guess the headlines’ meanings.
8. Due to its frequent use to symbolize a part of male anatomy, Instagram temporarily blocked searches for the “aubergine” emoji on its website.
9. Some linguists assert that Emoji is the first truly universal language.
10. Unicode’s Consortium receives so many proposals for new emojis to be added to their official lexicon that their emoji subcommittee meets twice a week.
For more fun emoji facts, check out our article here: factretriever.com/emoji-facts
Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more amazing facts about the world and beyond: youtube.com/channel/UCZxmYOAglFN29DPr7mEaDLQ
10 Expressive Emoji Facts
😃👇👨🏻💻. Translation? We're so happy you're here to read our emoji facts. Learn about the world's favorite pictographic language with our fun emoji facts.
1. The word “Emoji” is derived from three Japanese words: “e” for picture, “mo” for write, “ji” for character. The seeming similarity to the English word "emotion" is purely coincidental.
2. Although emojis were instantly popular in Japan, where they were initially released, it took over a decade for them to catch on in other nations.
3. Emojis were first created in 1999 and incorporated into Unicode, the universal standard for software programming, in 2010.
4. Unicode, the global standard used to program languages digitally, currently has 2,789 emojis in their standardized list.
5. Oxford Dictionary voted the “face with tears of joy” emoji their 2015 “Word” of the Year.
6. The “extremely shocked” emoji was loosely based on the painting The Scream by Edvard Munch.
7. Every Friday, the BBC publishes the most recent headlines in Emoji and invites radio listeners to call in and guess the headlines’ meanings.
8. Due to its frequent use to symbolize a part of male anatomy, Instagram temporarily blocked searches for the “aubergine” emoji on its website.
9. Some linguists assert that Emoji is the first truly universal language.
10. Unicode’s Consortium receives so many proposals for new emojis to be added to their official lexicon that their emoji subcommittee meets twice a week.
For more fun emoji facts, check out our article here: factretriever.com/emoji-facts
Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more amazing facts about the world and beyond: youtube.com/channel/UCZxmYOAglFN29DPr7mEaDLQ
