View source for Emoticon

{{Short description|Pictorial representation of a facial expression}}
{{Distinguish|Emoji|Sticker (messaging)|Enotikon|Emotion}}
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{{Contains special characters|emoticon|width=17em}}
[[File:Smiley Face Emoticon.svg|thumb|upright=0.8|An emoticon portraying a smiling face]]
[[File:Kaomoji.png|thumb|upright=0.8|Examples of [[#Kaomoji (Japan ASCII movement)|kaomoji]] smileys]]

An '''emoticon''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|m|oʊ|t|ə|k|ɒ|n}}, {{respell|ə|MOH|tə-kon}}, rarely {{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|m|ɒ|t|ɪ|k|ɒ|n}}, {{respell|ih|MOTT|ih|kon}}),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/emoticon?a=british |title=emoticon |website=Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary |access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=emoticon |title=emoticon |website=American Heritage Dictionary |access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/emoticon |title=emoticon |website=Collins Dictionary |access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/emoticon|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828061608/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/emoticon|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 28, 2017|title=emoticon - Definition of emoticon in English by Oxford Dictionaries|website=Oxford Dictionaries - English}}</ref> [[portmanteau]] of '''emotion''' and '''icon''',<ref name="Education 2003">{{cite book |last1=Zimmerly |first1=Arlene |last2=Jaehne |first2=Julie |title=Computer Connections: Projects and Applications, Student Edition |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-07-861399-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eT4BNoGdRHcC |quote=Emoticon: An acronym for emotion icon, a small icon composed of punctuation characters that indicate how an e-mail message should be interpreted (that is, the writer's mood).}}{{Page needed|date=October 2021}}</ref> is a pictorial representation of a [[facial expression]] using [[Character (symbol)|characters]]—usually [[punctuation mark]]s, [[number]]s and [[Alphabet|letters]]—to express a person's feelings, mood or reaction, without needing to describe it in detail.

[[ASCII]] emoticons can be traced back hundreds of years with various one-off uses. The protocol as a way to use them to communicate emotion in conversations is credited to computer scientist [[Scott Fahlman]], who proposed what came to be known as "[[smiley]]s"—<code>:-)</code> and {{nowrap|<code>:-(</code>}}—in a message on the [[bulletin board system]] (BBS) of [[Carnegie Mellon University]] in 1982. In Western countries, emoticons are usually written at a right angle to the direction of the text. {{anchor|Kaomoji|Verticon}}Users from [[Japan]] popularized a kind of emoticon called ''[[kaomoji]]'', using [[Kana|Japanese's larger character sets]]. This style arose on ASCII NET of Japan in 1986.<ref name="aist">{{cite web |url=http://staff.aist.go.jp/k.harigaya/doc/kao_his.html |title=The History of Smiley Marks |website=Staff.aist.go.jp |access-date=March 14, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203061906/http://staff.aist.go.jp/k.harigaya/doc/kao_his.html |archive-date=December 3, 2012}}</ref><ref name=whatjapanthinks2007>{{cite web |last1=Yasumoto-Nicolson |first1=Ken |url=http://whatjapanthinks.com/2007/09/19/turns-25-but-how-old-are-japanese-emoticons/ |title=The History of Smiley Marks (English) |website=Whatjapanthinks.com |date=September 19, 2007 |access-date=August 10, 2017}}</ref> They are also known as ''verticons'' (from ''vertical emoticon'') due to their readability without rotations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cross-cultural investigation of Smileys |author-first=Karim |author-last=N'Diaye |date=2009-01-08 |orig-date=2006 |publisher=International cognition & culture institute |url=http://cognitionandculture.net/blogs/karims-blog/cross-cultural-investigation-of-smileys/ |access-date=2024-03-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329212955/http://cognitionandculture.net/blogs/karims-blog/cross-cultural-investigation-of-smileys/ |archive-date=2024-03-29}}</ref> This is often seen as the 1st generation of emoticons.

The second generation began when computing became more common in the west, and people began replacing the previous [[ASCII art]] with actual emoticon icons or designs. One term used to define these types of emoticons compared to ASCII was portrait emoticons, as portrait emoticons are meant to resemble a face from the front like a [[portrait painting]]. The use of these emoticons became prevalent when [[SMS]] mobile text messaging and the [[Internet]] became widespread in the late 1990s, emoticons became increasingly popular and were commonly used in [[texting]], [[Internet forum]]s and [[email]]s. Over time, the designs became more elaborate and emoticons such as 🙂 by [[Unicode]] became commonly referred to as Emoticons. They have played a significant role in communication as technology for communication purposes advanced and increased in use. Emoticons today convey non-verbal cues of language, such as facial expressions but also hand gestures, with [[The Smiley Company]] stating in interviews that emoticons now allow for greater emotional understanding in writing when emoticons are used.<ref>{{cite web |title=Why your brand needs an EQ boost |date=June 3, 2021 |url=https://www.creativereview.co.uk/why-your-brand-needs-an-eq-boost/ |publisher=[[Creative Review]]}}</ref><ref name="Williams">{{cite news |first=Alex |last=Williams |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/fashion/29emoticon.html |title=(-: Just Between You and Me ;-) |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 29, 2007 |access-date=March 22, 2018 |url-access=limited}}</ref> Emoticons were the precursors to modern [[emoji]]s not just for facial expressions, but also replacing categories like weather, sports and animals.

==History==
===ASCII art and faces (pre-1981)===
[[File:Poire typo..JPG|thumb|right|Cover of the French magazine ''[[Le Charivari]]'', text of a legal ruling against it in the shape of a [[pear]], 1834]]

In 1648, poet [[Robert Herrick (poet)|Robert Herrick]] wrote, "Tumble me down, and I will sit Upon my ruins, (smiling yet:)." Herrick's work predated any other recorded use of [[bracket]]s as a smiling face by around 200 years. However, experts doubted the inclusion of the [[Colon (punctuation)|colon]] in the poem was deliberate and if it was meant to represent a smiling face. English professor Alan Jacobs argued that "punctuation, in general, was unsettled in the seventeenth century ... Herrick was unlikely to have consistent punctuational practices himself, and even if he did he couldn't expect either his printers or his readers to share them."<ref name="Madrigal">{{cite web |last1=Madrigal |first1=Alexis C. |title=The First Emoticon May have appeared in 1648 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/04/the-first-emoticon-may-have-appeared-in-1648/360622/ |work=[[The Atlantic]] |date=April 14, 2014 |url-access=limited}}</ref> 17th century typography practice often placed colons and semicolons within parentheses, including 14 instances of "{{big|:)}}" in [[Richard Baxter]]'s 1653 ''Plain Scripture Proof of Infants Church-membership and Baptism''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zimmer |first=Ben |date=2014-04-15 |title=Sorry, That's Not an Emoticon in a 1648 Poem :( |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/04/emoticon-robert-herrick-s-17th-century-poem-to-fortune-does-not-contain-a-smiley-face.html |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=Slate}}</ref>

Precursors to modern emoticons have existed since the 19th century.{{r|Evans|Long|Giannoulis}} The ''National Telegraphic Review and Operators Guide'' in April 1857 documented the use of the number 73 in [[Morse code]] to express "love and kisses"<ref name="Hey & Pápay">{{cite book |last1=Hey |first1=Tony |last2=Pápay |first2=Gyuri |title=The Computing Universe: A Journey through a Revolution |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-12322-5 |page=241}}</ref> (later reduced to the more formal "[[best regards]]"). ''Dodge's Manual'' in 1908 documented the reintroduction of "love and kisses" as the number 88. New Zealand academics Joan Gajadhar and John Green comment that both [[Morse code abbreviations]] are more succinct than modern abbreviations such as [[LOL (Internet slang)|LOL]].<ref name="Gajadhar">{{cite journal |first1=Joan |last1=Gajadhar |first2=John |last2=Green |title=The Importance of Nonverbal Elements in Online Chat |year=2005 |journal=EDUCAUSE Quarterly |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=63–64 |issn=1528-5324 |url=https://er.educause.edu/~/media/files/articles/2005/10/eqm05411.pdf}}</ref>

[[File:Alleged use of emoticon, 1862-08-07.jpg|thumb|left|Transcript of [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s speech in 1862]]
The transcript of one of [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s speeches in 1862 recorded the audience's reaction as: "(applause and laughter ;)".<ref name="Evans">{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Vyvyan |title=The Emoji Code: The Linguistics Behind Smiley Faces and Scaredy Cats |date=2017 |publisher=Picador |location=New York |isbn=978-1-250-12906-2 |pages=149–150}}</ref><ref name="Houston">{{cite news |last1=Houston |first1=Keith |title=Something to Smile About |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304213904579093661814158946 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=28 September 2013 |issn=0099-9660 |url-access=subscription |page=C3}}</ref> There has been some debate whether the glyph in Lincoln's speech was a [[typo]], a legitimate punctuation construct or the first emoticon.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lee |first=Jennifer |url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/hfo-emoticon/ |work=The New York Times |title=Is That an Emoticon in 1862? |date=January 19, 2009 |department=City Room |url-access=limited}}</ref> Linguist Philip Seargeant argues that it was a simple [[typesetting]] error.{{r|Seargeant}}

[[File:Emotikony-kurjer-warszawski-1881-tekst.png|thumb|right|"Typographical art" published in the March 5, 1881, issue of ''Kurjer Warszawski'']]
[[File:Emoticons Puck 1881.png|thumb|Emoticons in the satirical magazine ''[[Puck (magazine)|Puck]]'' on March 30, 1881]]
Before March 1881, the examples of "typographical art" appeared in at least three newspaper articles, including ''[[Kurier Warszawski|Kurjer warszawski]]'' (published in [[Warsaw]]) from March 5, 1881, using punctuation to represent the emotions of joy, melancholy, indifference and astonishment.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://polona.pl/item/kurjer-warszawski-r-61-nr-51-5-marca-1881,MjA0ODAxODg/4/#info:metadata | title=Polona }}</ref>
{{Clear left|left}}[[File:Emoticons-Telegraphische Zeichenkunst.jpg|thumb|{{lang|de|Telegraphische Zeichenkunst}} in the German {{lang|de|Deutsche Postzeitung}}, November 16, 1896<ref>''Telegraphische Zeichenkunst''. ''Deutschen Postzeitung'', Vol. VII. (No. 22), 1896-11-16, p. 497)</ref>]]In a 1912 essay titled "For Brevity and Clarity", American author [[Ambrose Bierce]] suggested facetiously{{r|Evans|Houston}} that a bracket could be used to represent a smiling face, proposing "an improvement in punctuation" with which writers could convey ''[[wikt:cachinnation|cachinnation]]'', loud or immoderate laughter: "it is written thus&nbsp;‿ and presents a smiling mouth. It is to be appended, with the full stop, to every jocular or ironical sentence".{{r|Evans}}<ref name="Bierce">{{cite book |first=Ambrose |last=Bierce |chapter=For Brevity and Clarity |title=The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, XI: Antepenultimata |year=1912 |publisher=The Neale Publishing Company |pages=386–387 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3nEcAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA387}}</ref> In a 1936 ''[[Harvard Lampoon]]'' article, writer Alan Gregg proposed combining brackets with various other [[punctuation mark]]s to represent various moods. Brackets were used for the sides of the mouth or cheeks, with other punctuation used between the brackets to display various emotions: {{big|(-)}} for a smile, {{nowrap|{{big|(--)}}}} (showing more "teeth") for laughter, {{big|(#)}} for a frown and {{big|(*)}} for a [[wink]].{{r|Evans}}<ref>The Harvard Lampoon, Vol. 112 No. 1, September 16, 1936, pp. 30–31. {{issn|0017-8098}}</ref> An instance of text characters representing a sideways smiling and frowning face could be found in the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' on March 10, 1953, promoting the film ''Lili'' starring [[Leslie Caron]].<ref>New York Herald Tribune, 1953-03-10, p. 20, cols. 4–6.<!--
Today

You'll laugh :)
You'll cry :(
You'll love [Heart-shaped face]
_Lili_ --></ref>

The September 1962 issue of [[Mad (magazine)|''MAD'' magazine]] included an article titled "Typewri-toons". The piece, featuring typewriter-generated artwork credited to "Royal Portable", was entirely made up of repurposed typography, including a capital letter P having a bigger 'bust' than a capital I, a lowercase b and d discussing their pregnancies, an [[asterisk]] on top of a letter to indicate the letter had just come inside from snowfall, and a classroom of lowercase n's interrupted by a lowercase h "raising its hand".<ref>''MAD'' Magazine No. 73, September 1962, pp. 36–37. {{ISSN|0024-9319}}</ref> A further example attributed to a ''[[The Baltimore Sun|Baltimore Sunday Sun]]'' columnist appeared in a 1967 article in ''[[Reader's Digest]]'', using a [[dash]] and [[right bracket]] to represent a [[Tongue in cheek|tongue in one's cheek]]: {{big|—}}).{{r|Evans|Houston}}<ref name="Mikkelson">{{cite web |last=Mikkelson |first=David |url=http://www.snopes.com/fact-check/glyph-notes/ |title=Fact Check: Emoticon (Smiley) Origin |website=Snopes |date=20 September 2007}}</ref> Prefiguring the modern "smiley" emoticon,{{r|Evans|Seargeant}} writer [[Vladimir Nabokov]] told an interviewer from ''[[The New York Times]]'' in 1969, "I often think there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile—some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket, which I would now like to trace in reply to your question."<ref name="Nabokov">{{cite book |last=Nabokov |first=Vladimir |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780679726098 |title=Strong Opinions |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-679-72609-8 |edition=1st Vintage international |location=New York |page=134 |oclc=1035656350 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

In the 1970s, the [[PLATO IV]] computer system was launched. It was one of the first computers used throughout educational and professional institutions, but rarely used in a residential setting.<ref name="vice">{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Ernie |title=The Greatest Computer Network You've Never Heard Of |date=November 13, 2017 |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-greatest-computer-network-youve-never-heard-of/ |publisher=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]]}}</ref> On the computer system, a student at the [[University of Illinois]] developed pictograms that resembled different smiling faces. [[Mary Kalantzis]] and [[Bill Cope (academic)|Bill Cope]] stated this likely took place in 1972, and they claimed these to be the first emoticons.<ref name="Kalantzis">{{cite book |last1=Kalantzis |first1=Mary |last2=Cope |first2=Bill |title=Adding Sense: Context and Interest in a Grammar of Multimodal Meaning |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-49534-9 |page=33}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Cope |first1=Bill |last2=Kalantzis |first2=Mary |title=A Little History of e-Learning |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351400910 |via=ResearchGate |access-date=26 October 2021}}</ref>

===ASCII emoticons - First generation (1982–mid-1990s)===
In 1982, [[Carnegie Mellon]] computer scientist [[Scott Fahlman]] is generally credited with the protocol of communicating and portraying emotion in written text.<ref name="Seargeant">{{cite book |last1=Seargeant |first1=Philip |title=The Emoji Revolution: How Technology is Shaping the Future of Communication |date=2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-49664-3 |pages=45–46 |quote=The history of emoticons conventionally begins with the computer scientist Scott Fahlman who, in 1982, combined a colon, a hyphen and a round bracket as a way of indicating that a given statement was meant as a joke.}}</ref><ref name="Doliashvili">{{cite book |last1=Doliashvili |first1=Mariam |last2=Ogawa |first2=Michael-Brian C. |last3=Crosby |first3=Martha E. |editor1-last=Schmorrow |editor1-first=Dylan D. |editor2-last=Fidopiastis |editor2-first=Cali M. |title=Augmented Cognition. Theoretical and Technological Approaches |series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science |volume=12196 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-030-50353-6 |date=2020 |page=26 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-50353-6_2 |s2cid=220551348 |chapter=Understanding Challenges Presented Using Emojis as a Form of Augmented Communication |quote=Scott Fahlman, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, was credited with popularizing early text-based emoticons in 1982}}</ref><ref name="Long">{{cite magazine |last1=Long |first1=Tony |title=Sept. 19, 1982: Can't You Take a Joke? :-) |url=https://www.wired.com/2008/09/dayintech-0919/ |magazine=Wired |date=19 September 2008 |url-access=limited |quote=Fahlman became the acknowledged originator of the ASCII-based emoticon.}}</ref> The use of [[ASCII]] symbols, a standard set of codes representing typographical marks, was essential to allow the symbols to be displayed on any computer.<ref name="Veszelszki">{{cite book |last1=Veszelszki |first1=Ágnes |title=Digilect: The Impact of Infocommunication Technology on Language |date=2017 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |location=Berlin |isbn=978-3-11-049911-7 |pages=131–132}}</ref> In Carnegie Mellon's [[bulletin board system]], Fahlman proposed colon–[[hyphen]]–right bracket {{code|:-)}} as a label for "attempted humor" to try to solve the difficulty of conveying [[Humour|humor]] or [[sarcasm]] in plain text.<ref name="Stanton">{{cite book |last1=Stanton |first1=Andrea L. |editor1-last=Benski |editor1-first=Tova |editor2-last=Fisher |editor2-first=Eran |title=Internet and Emotions |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-0-415-81944-2 |page=84 |chapter=Islamic Emoticons: Pious Sociability and Community Building in Online Muslim Communities.}}</ref>{{r|Long}} Fahlman sent the following message{{efn|The transcript of the conversation between several computer scientists, including [[David Touretzky]], [[Guy L. Steele Jr.|Guy Steele]] and [[Jaime Carbonell]],<ref name="Fahlman">{{cite web |last=Fahlman |first=Scott |url=https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sef/Orig-Smiley.htm |title=Original Bboard Thread in which :-) was proposed |website=cs.cmu.edu |access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref> was believed lost before it was recovered 20 years later from old backup tapes.{{r|Long}}}} after an incident where a humorous warning about a [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] spill in an elevator was misunderstood as serious:{{r|Houston|Seargeant}}<ref name="Garber">{{cite web |last1=Garber |first1=Megan |title=) or :-)? Some Highly Scientific Data |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/emoticon-smileys-some-highly-scientific-data/373086/ |work=The Atlantic |date=June 19, 2014 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

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<pre style="border: 0px;">
19-Sep-82 11:44    Scott E  Fahlman             :-)
From: Scott E  Fahlman <Fahlman at Cmu-20c>
 
I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:
        
:-)
        
Read it sideways.  Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends.  For this, use
        
:-(
</pre>

Within a few months, the smiley had spread to the [[ARPANET]]<ref>{{cite newsgroup |title=Notes{{dash}}Communications Breakthrough |first=James |last=Morris |date=October 10, 1982 |newsgroup=net.works |url=https://groups.google.com/group/net.works/browse_thread/thread/773cc0618cfd7d83q=Scott+Fahlman#35a7598e05d9a09b |access-date=December 18, 2008}}{{Dead link|date=October 2021}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=October 2021}} and [[Usenet]].<ref>{{cite newsgroup |title=How to keep from being misunderstood on the net |first=Curtis |last=Jackson |date=December 3, 1982 |newsgroup=net.news |url=https://groups.google.com/group/net.news/browse_thread/thread/b72c333ced0d3adc/e008ed19e251f9ee?#e008ed19e251f9ee |access-date=December 17, 2008}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=October 2021}} Other suggestions on the forum included an [[asterisk]] {{code|*}} and an [[ampersand]] {{code|&}}, the latter meant to represent a person doubled over in laughter,<ref name="Hitt">{{cite news |last1=Hitt |first1=Tarpley |title=The Inventor of the Emoticon Tells All: 'I've Created a Virus' |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-inventor-of-the-emoticon-tells-all-ive-created-a-virus |work=The Daily Beast |date=17 July 2020 |url-access=limited}}</ref>{{r|Garber}} as well as a [[percent sign]] {{code|%}} and a [[Octothorpe|pound sign]] {{code|#}}.<ref name="Baron">{{cite book |last1=Baron |first1=Naomi |editor1-last=Vincent |editor1-first=Jane |editor2-last=Fortunati |editor2-first=Leopoldina |title=Electronic Emotion: The Mediation of Emotion via Information and Communication Technologies |date=2009 |publisher=Peter Lang |location=Bern |isbn=978-3-03911-866-3 |page=112 |chapter=The myth of impoverished signal: Dispelling the spoken-language fallacy for emoticons in online communication.}}</ref> Scott Fahlman suggested that not only could his emoticon communicate [[emotion]], but also replace language.<ref name="Stanton" /> Since the 1990s, emoticons (colon, hyphen and bracket) have become integral to digital communications,<ref name="Giannoulis">{{cite book |editor1-last=Giannoulis |editor1-first=Elena |editor2-last=Wilde |editor2-first=Lukas R. A. |title=Emoticons, ''Kaomoji'', and Emoji: The Transformation of Communication in the Digital Age |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-0-429-95884-7 |chapter=Emoticons, Kaomoji, and Emoji: The Transformation of Communication in the Digital Age <!--Chapter and book title are the same--> |quote=The most commonly used emoticons, the 'smileys', have since become an integral part of digital communication.}}{{Page needed|date=October 2021}}</ref> and have inspired a variety of other emoticons,{{r|Long}}{{sfn|Evans|2017|pp=151–152}} including the "winking" face using a [[semicolon]] {{code|;-)}},<ref name="Turns 25">{{cite news |title=:-) turns 25 <!--Smiley is part of title--> |agency=Associated Press |date=September 20, 2007 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/18/emoticon.anniversary.ap/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012051803/http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/18/emoticon.anniversary.ap/index.html |archive-date=October 12, 2007 |website=CNN.com}}</ref> {{code|XD}}, a representation of the [[Face with Tears of Joy emoji]] and the acronym "[[LOL]]".{{sfn|Seargeant|2019|p=47}}

In 1996, [[The Smiley Company]] was established by Nicolas Loufrani and his father Franklin as a way of commercializing the [[smiley]] trademark. As part of this, The Smiley Dictionary website was launched and had a focus on ASCII emoticons, where available emoticons were catalogued. In total more than 500 were recorded. Notably this catalog removed the dash ( - ) for a nose and just had eyes and a mouth. The reasoning behind this was to make the ASCII emoticons more like the [[smiley]], which resulted in :) instead of :-). The shortening or redesign of ASCII emoticons has not been covered in enough depth to know where the shorter versions originated, but The Smiley Dictionary could have as a minimum influenced the way ASCII emoticons are used today.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}} Many other people did similar to Loufrani from 1995 onwards, including David Sanderson creating the book ''Smileys'' in 1997. James Marshall also hosted an online collection of ASCII emoticons that he completed in 2008.{{sfn|Seargeant|2019|p=47}} In 1998, the book Le Dico Smiley was also published.<ref>{{cite web |title=Le Dico smiley |url=https://www.archambault.ca/livres/dico-smiley-le/collectif/9782821204218/?lang=en-ca&id=3478300&cat=1887264&srsltid=AfmBOoqvxhIFG0YzHgszmLsDKPNOVY_etVkXoWqt_kbJT_7vuewM8Ae8 |publisher=[[Archambault]]}}</ref>

A researcher at [[Stanford University]] surveyed the emoticons used in four million [[Twitter]] messages and found that the smiling emoticon without a hyphen "nose" {{code|:)}} was much more common than the original version with the hyphen {{code|:-)}}.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Robb |first1=Alice |title=How Using Emoji Makes Us Less Emotional |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/118562/emoticons-effect-way-we-communicate-linguists-study-effects |publisher=[[The New Republic]] |date=July 7, 2014}}</ref> Linguist [[Vyvyan Evans]] argues that this represents a shift in usage by younger users as a form of ''[[covert prestige]]'': rejecting a standard usage in order to demonstrate in-group membership.{{sfn|Evans|2017|pp=152–154}}

===Portrait emoticons - Second generation (1990s–present)===
Nicolas Loufrani began to use the basic text designs and turned them into graphical representations, which are now known as portrait emoticons. His designs were registered at the [[United States Copyright Office]] in 1997 and appeared online as [[GIF|GIF files]] in 1998.<ref name=light>{{cite web |url=http://www.thelightmag.com/preferences-changes-in-social-media-marketingroberta-b-turner/ |title=Emoji Users Are Shaping The Future Of Messaging |first=Rene |last=Mahfood |date=2016 |work=The Light Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805221736/http://www.thelightmag.com/preferences-changes-in-social-media-marketingroberta-b-turner/ |archive-date=August 5, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.europe1.fr/societe/avec-le-smiley-on-arrive-a-decontracter-tout-le-monde-2662759 |title=Avec le smiley, 'on arrive à décontracter tout le monde' |trans-title=With the smiley, 'we get to relax everybody' |date=February 4, 2016 |website=Europe 1 |language=fr |access-date=July 16, 2017 |archive-date=August 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805222619/http://www.europe1.fr/societe/avec-le-smiley-on-arrive-a-decontracter-tout-le-monde-2662759 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newstalk.com/Emojis-World-Emoji-Day-history-of-emoji-Ireland-Nicolas-Loufrani-Vyv-Evans |title=A picture paints a thousand words: Today is World Emoji Day |first=Jack |last=Quann |date=July 17, 2015 |website=newstalk.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811013424/http://www.newstalk.com/Emojis-World-Emoji-Day-history-of-emoji-Ireland-Nicolas-Loufrani-Vyv-Evans |archive-date=August 11, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> For ASCII emoticons that did not exist to convert into graphical form, Loufrani also backward engineered new ASCII emoticons from the graphical versions he created. These were the first graphical representations of ASCII emoticons.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.digit.in/features/general/emoting-out-loud-the-origin-of-emojis-31252.html |title=Emoting Out Loud: The Origin of Emojis |first=Souvik |last=Das |date=August 4, 2016 |website=Digit}}</ref> Not only did these portrait emoticons portray existing and new ASCII emoticons, but also new features were added, such as [[hand gesture]]s in the form of white gloves. These have since become standalone [[emoji]]s along with other emojis that have replaced words in text communication. In 2001, he published his emoticon set online on the Smiley Dictionary.<ref name=light /> This dictionary included 640 different smiley icons<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hooks |first1=Matheus |title=The Untold Story Behind the Emoji Phenomenon |date=March 10, 2022 |url=https://www.hooksmagazine.com/post/silver-screen-the-untold-story-behind-the-emoji-phenomenon |publisher=Hooks magazine}}</ref><ref name="Hervez">{{cite news |url=http://www.leparisien.fr/economie/business/qui-a-invente-le-smiley-son-histoire-va-vous-surprendre-09-05-2016-5777881.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510020859/http://www.leparisien.fr/economie/business/qui-a-invente-le-smiley-son-histoire-va-vous-surprendre-09-05-2016-5777881.php |archive-date=10 May 2019 |title=Qui a inventé le Smiley ? Son histoire va vous surprendre... |trans-title=Who invented the Smiley? Its history will surprise you... |first=Marc |last=Hervez |date=May 9, 2016 |newspaper=Le Parisien |language=fr}}</ref> and was published as a book called ''Dico Smileys'' in 2002.<ref name=light /><ref name=semiotics>{{cite book |title=The Semiotics of Emoji: The Rise of Visual Language in the Age of the Internet |first=Marcel |last=Danesi |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |date=2016 |isbn=978-1-4742-8200-0}}{{page needed|date=October 2021}}</ref> In 2017, British magazine ''The Drum'' referred to Loufrani as the "godfather of the emoji" for his work in the field.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Deighton |first1=Katie |title=Creative The Smiley Company Emoji |url=https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/07/24/smiley-s-ceo-wants-turn-the-emoji-s-godfather-licensing-biz-global-brand |publisher=The Drum |date=July 24, 2017}}</ref>

The first American company to take notice of [[emoji]]s was [[Google]] beginning in 2007. In August 2007, a team made up of [[Mark Davis (Unicode)|Mark Davis]] and his colleagues Kat Momoi and Markus Scherer began petitioning the [[Unicode|Unicode Technical Committee (UTC)]] in an attempt to standardise the emoji.<ref name=wiredunicode>{{cite magazine |last1=Pardes |first1=Arielle |title=The Wired Guide to Emoji |url=https://www.wired.com/story/guide-emoji/ |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |date=February 1, 2018}}</ref> The UTC, having previously deemed emoji to be out of scope for Unicode, made the decision to broaden its scope to enable compatibility with the Japanese cellular carrier formats which were becoming more widespread.<ref name="principles">{{cite web |url=https://unicode.org/emoji/principles.html |title=Emoji Encoding Principles |publisher=[[Unicode Consortium]]}}</ref> Peter Edberg and Yasuo Kida joined the collaborative effort from [[Apple Inc.]] shortly after, and their official UTC proposal came in January 2009 with 625 new emoji characters.<ref name=wiredunicode /> Notably the move included a large set of emoticons, designed in an emoji-style but representing different emotions.<ref>{{cite web |title=The History of Emojis |date=1862 |url=https://appinstitute.com/history-of-emojis/ |publisher=AppInstitute}}</ref>

In recent times, emoticons, [[emoji]]s and [[smiley]]s have often become intertwined and confused. [[Emoji]]s represent the largest set of graphical communication, but they often include portrait emoticons. In fact, the majority of the most commonly used Emoji are emoticons (because they represent an emotion). In 2024, the [[BBC]] reported that 2 of the top 3 emojis were portrait emoticons.<ref>{{cite web |title=World Emoji Day 2024: What's the most popular emoji |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/53408876 |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=July 16, 2024}}</ref>

On September 23, 2021, it was announced that [[Scott Fahlman]] was holding an auction for the original emoticons he created in 1982. The auction was held in [[Dallas]], United States, and sold the two designs as [[non-fungible token|non-fungible tokens (NFT)]].<ref>{{cite web |title=First smiley and frowny emoticons go under hammer in US |url=https://www.dailysabah.com/life/first-smiley-and-frowny-emoticons-go-under-hammer-in-us/news |publisher=[[Daily Sabah]] |date=September 11, 2021}}</ref> The online auction ended later that month, with the originals selling for [[United States dollar|US$]]237,500.<ref name="Future Zone">{{Cite web |author=<!--Staff writer; no byline--> |date=2021-09-24 |title=Erstes digitales Smiley für mehr als 200.000 Dollar als NFT versteigert |trans-title=First digital smiley sold for more than $ 200,000 as NFT |url=https://futurezone.at/digital-life/erstes-smiley-als-nft-versteigert-237500-dollar/401746341 |website=Future Zone |language=de}}</ref> A year later in 2022, [[The Smiley Company]] auctioned off an [[NFT]] of 42 original graphical emoticon on [[World Emoji Day]]. The proceeds of the sale went to the company's non-profit arm, Smiley Movement.<ref>{{cite web |title=Smiles Ahead: Heritage Auctions Offers NFT of World's First Graphical Emoticons |url=https://fineart.ha.com/heritage-auctions-press-releases-and-news/smiles-ahead-heritage-auctions-offers-nft-of-world-s-first-graphical-emoticons.s?releaseId=4512 |publisher=[[Heritage Auctions]]}}</ref>

In some [[programming language]]s, certain operators are known informally by their emoticon-like appearance. This includes the [[Spaceship operator]] <code>&lt;=&gt;</code> (a comparison), the [[Generics in Java#Diamond operator|Diamond operator]] <code>&lt;&gt;</code> (for type hinting) and the [[Elvis operator]] <code>?:</code> (a shortened [[ternary operator]]).<ref name=groovy>[http://docs.groovy-lang.org/latest/html/documentation/index.html#_elvis_operator Groovy Language Documentation], includes Spaceship, Elvis and Diamond operators</ref>

==Styles==
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2021}}

===Western===
Usually, emoticons in Western style have the eyes on the left, followed by the nose and the mouth. It is commonly placed at the end of a sentence, replacing the full stop. The two-character version <code>:)</code>, which omits the nose, is very popular. The most basic emoticons are relatively consistent in form, but some can be rotated (making them tiny [[ambigrams]]). There are also some variations to emoticons to get new definitions, like changing a character to express another feeling. For example, {{nowrap|<code>:(</code>}} equals sad and {{nowrap|<code>:((</code>}} equals very sad. Weeping can be written as <code>:'(</code>. A blush can be expressed as <code>:"></code>. Others include wink <code>;)</code>, a grin <code>:D</code>, <code>:P</code> for tongue out, and smug {{nowrap|<code>:-></code>}}; they can be used to [[Tone indicator|denote]] a flirting or joking tone, or may be implying a [[double entendre|second meaning]] in the sentence preceding it.<ref name="Dresner & Herring 2010">Dresner & Herring (2010).</ref> <code>;P</code>, such as when [[blowing a raspberry]]. An often used combination is also <code><3</code> for a [[Heart symbol|heart]] and <code></3</code> for a broken heart. <code>:O</code> is also sometimes used to depict shock. <code>:/</code> is used to depict melancholy, disappointment or disapproval. <code>:|</code> may be used to depict a neutral face.

A broad grin is sometimes shown with crinkled eyes to express further amusement; <code>XD</code> and the addition of further "D" letters can suggest laughter or extreme amusement, e.g., <code>XDDDD</code>. The "3" in <code>X3</code> and <code>:3</code> represents an animal's mouth.  An equal sign is often used for the eyes in place of the colon, seen as <code>=)</code>. It has become more acceptable to omit the hyphen, whether a colon or an equal sign is used for the eyes.<ref>{{cite web| url        = https://sourceforge.net/projects/denoser/| title      = Denoser strips noses from text| date = February 21, 2013| publisher  = SourceForge.net| access-date = March 14, 2013}}</ref> One linguistic study has indicated that the use of a nose in an emoticon may be related to the user's age, with younger people less likely to use a nose.<ref>{{cite journal| url         = http://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol18/iss2/14/| title       = Do You Smile with Your Nose? Stylistic Variation in Twitter Emoticons| first       = Tyler| last        = Schnoebelen| journal     = University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics| volume      = 18| issue       = 2| year        = 2012| access-date = January 22, 2020}}</ref>

Some variants are also more common in certain countries due to [[keyboard layout]]s. For example, the smiley <code>=)</code> may occur in [[Scandinavia]]. [[Diacritic]]al marks are sometimes used. The letters <code>Ö</code> and <code>Ü</code> can be seen as emoticons, as the upright versions of <code>:O</code> (meaning that one is surprised) and <code>:D</code> (meaning that one is very happy), respectively. In countries where the [[Cyrillic alphabet]] is used, the right parenthesis <code>)</code> is used as a smiley. Multiple parentheses <code>))))</code> are used to express greater happiness, amusement or laughter. The colon is omitted due to being in a lesser-known position on the [[JCUKEN|ЙЦУКЕН keyboard layout]]. The '[[shrug]]' emoticon, {{nowrap|<code>¯\_(ツ)_/¯</code>,}} uses the glyph [[ツ]] from the Japanese [[katakana]] writing system.

===Kaomoji (Japan ASCII movement)===
{{main|Kaomoji}}

Kaomoji are often seen as the Japanese development of emoticons that is separate to the [[Scott Fahlman]] movement, which started in 1982. In 1986, a designer began to use brackets and other [[ASCII|ASCII text characters]] to form faces. Over time, they became more often differentiated from each other, although both use ASCII characters. However, more westernised Kaomojis have dropped the brackets, such as <code>owo</code>, <code>uwu</code> and <code>TwT</code>, popularised in internet subcultures such as the [[anime]] and [[Furry fandom|furry communities]].

[[File:Kaomoji! (2334722446).jpg|thumb|A kaomoji painting in Japan]]

===2channel===
<!-- linked from redirect [[ಠ ಠ]] -->
Users of the Japanese discussion board [[2channel]], in particular, have developed a variety emoticons using characters from various scripts, such as [[Kannada alphabet|Kannada]], as in [[Look of Disapproval|<code>ಠ_ಠ</code>]] (for a look of disapproval, disbelief or confusion). Similarly, the letter ರೃ was used in emoticons to represent a monocle and ಥ to represent a tearing eye. They were picked up by [[4chan]] and spread to other Western sites soon after. Some have become characters in their own right like [[Mona (ASCII art)|Monā]].

===Korean===
In [[South Korea]], emoticons use Korean [[Hangul]] letters, and the Western style is rarely used.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-03-17|title=Korean Emoticons: The Ultimate Guide|url=https://www.90daykorean.com/korean-emoticons/|access-date=2020-12-18|website=90 Day Korean®|language=en-US}}</ref> The structures of Korean and Japanese emoticons are somewhat similar, but they have some differences. Korean style contains Korean [[Hangul consonant and vowel tables|jamo]] (letters) instead of other characters.

The consonant jamos <code>ㅅ</code>, <code>ㅁ</code> or <code>ㅂ</code> can be used as the mouth or nose component and <code>ㅇ</code>, <code>ㅎ</code> or <code>ㅍ</code> for the eyes. Using quotation marks <code>"</code> and apostrophes <code>'</code> are also commonly used combinations. Vowel jamos such as ㅜ and ㅠ can depict a crying face. Example: {{nowrap|<code>ㅜㅜ</code>,}} (same function as T in Western style). Sometimes ㅡ (not an [[em-dash]] "—", but a vowel jamo), a comma (<code>,</code>) or an [[underscore]] (<code>_</code>) is added, and the two character sets can be mixed together, as in {{nowrap|<code>ㅠ.ㅡ</code>,}} {{nowrap|<code>ㅡ^ㅜ</code>}} and {{nowrap|<code>ㅜㅇㅡ</code>.}} Also, semicolons and [[caret]]s are commonly used in Korean emoticons; semicolons can mean sweating, examples of it are <code>-;/</code>, {{nowrap|<code>--^</code>}} and  {{nowrap|<code>-_-;;</code>}}.

===Chinese ideographic===
{{See also|Jiong}}

The character 囧 (U+56E7), which means {{gloss|bright}}, may be combined with the posture emoticon Orz, such as {{nowrap|囧rz.}} The character existed in [[Oracle bone script]] but was rarely used until its use as an emoticon,<ref>{{cite book
|last1=Li
|first1=Yuming
|last2=Li
|first2=Wei
|title=The Language Situation in China
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4PHnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA252
|date=1 April 2014
|publisher=De Gruyter
|isbn=978-1-61451-365-0
}}</ref> documented as early as January 20, 2005.<ref name="nownews-56E7">{{cite web |date=January 20, 2005 |title= |script-title=zh:心情很orz嗎？ 網路象形文字幽默一下 |trans-title=Feeling orz? Humor with Internet Hieroglyphics |url=http://www.nownews.com/2005/01/20/327-1744028.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115031609/http://www.nownews.com/2005/01/20/327-1744028.htm |archive-date=November 15, 2012 |access-date=March 14, 2013 |publisher=Nownews.com}}</ref>

Other variants of 囧 include 崮 (king 囧), 莔 (queen 囧), 商 (囧 with a hat), 囧興 (turtle) and 卣 (''[[Bomberman]]''). The character 槑 (U+69D1), a variant of 梅 {{gloss|plum}}, is used to represent a double of 呆 {{gloss|dull}} or further magnitude of dullness. In Chinese, normally full characters (as opposed to the stylistic use of 槑) might be [[Reduplication#Chinese|duplicated]] to express emphasis.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Butucea |first=Maria |date=November 2017 |title=CHINESE COMMUNICATION |url=https://sic.ase.ro/wp-content/uploads/sic-2017/pdf-2017/Butucea-Maria-CHINESE-COMMUNICATION.pdf |access-date=2025-06-29 |website=The Bucharest University of Economic Studies}}</ref>

==Posture emoticons==
===Orz===
[[File:Dogeza horizontal.png|thumb|The emoticon <code>Orz</code> resembles a person performing a Japanese ''[[dogeza]]'' bow.]]
[[wikt:Orz|Orz]] (other forms include: {{nowrap|Or2}}, {{nowrap|on_}}, {{nowrap|OTZ}}, {{nowrap|OTL}}, {{nowrap|STO}}, {{nowrap|JTO}},<ref name="boing-orz">{{cite web |author=Jardin |first=Xeni |date=February 7, 2005 |title=All about Orz |url=http://www.boingboing.net/2005/02/07/all-about-orz.html |access-date=March 24, 2009 |website=Boing Boing}}</ref> {{nowrap|_no}}, {{nowrap|_冂○}}<ref>{{cite web |title= |script-title=ja:みんなの作った <nowiki>_&#124;￣&#124;○クラフト</nowiki> "paper craft of orz" |trans-title=Everyone's _{{!}}￣{{!}}○ craft "paper craft of orz" |url=http://www.dfnt.net/t/photo/your/craft_06suman.shtml |access-date=August 18, 2009}}</ref> and {{nowrap|[[Jiong|囧]]{{zwsp}}rz}}<ref name="nownews-56E7" />) is an emoticon representing a kneeling or bowing person (the Japanese version of which is called ''[[dogeza]]''), with the "o" being the head, the "r" being the arms and part of the body, and the "z" being part of the body and the legs. This [[stick figure]] can represent respect or ''kowtowing'', but commonly appears along a range of responses, including "frustration, despair, sarcasm, or grudging respect".<ref>Rodney H. Jones and Christoph A. Hafner, ''Understanding Digital Literacies: A Practical Introduction'' (London: Routledge, 2012), 126–27. {{ISBN|9781136212888}}</ref>

It was first used in late 2002 at the forum on Techside, a Japanese personal website. At the "Techside FAQ Forum" ({{lang|ja|TECHSIDE教えて君BBS(教えてBBS) }}), a poster asked about a cable cover, typing "{{nowrap|_&#124;￣&#124;○}}" to show a cable and its cover. Others commented that it looked like a kneeling person, and the symbol became popular.<ref>{{cite web |title= |script-title=ja:TECHSIDE FF11板の過去ログです |trans-title=TECHSIDE FF11 board archives |url=http://210.136.179.189/cgi-bin/ch/log/log.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030430024441/http://210.136.179.189/cgi-bin/ch/log/log.html |archive-date=April 30, 2003 |access-date=September 17, 2018 |language=ja |script-quote=ja:＜正直＞アフターバーナー予約してしまいました_{{!}}￣{{!}}○←早速使ってみるw (12/23 00:20)<br/>＜ルン＞/土下座_{{!}}￣{{!}} ○のび助　　···駄目だ、完全に遅れた (12/23 23:09)}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=March 2025}} These comments were soon deleted as they were considered off-topic. By 2005, Orz spawned a [[subculture]]: blogs have been devoted to the emoticon, and [[URL shortening]] services have been named after it. In Taiwan, Orz is associated with the concept of [[nice guy]]s.<ref name="boing-orz" />

=== o7 ===
o7, or O7, is an emoticon that depicts a person [[Salute|saluting]], with the ''o'' being the head and the ''7'' being its arm.<ref>{{Cite web |title=o7 {{!}} What Does o7 Mean? |url=https://www.cyberdefinitions.com/definitions/O7.html |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=Cyber Definitions}}</ref>

==Multimedia variations==
A [[portmanteau]] of ''emotion'' and ''[[sound]]'', an emotisound is a brief sound transmitted and played back during the viewing of a message, typically an IM message or email message. The sound is intended to communicate an emotional [[subtext]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tomić |first1=Maja Katarina |last2=Martinez |first2=Marijana |last3=Vrbanec |first3=Tedo |date=2013 |title=Emoticons |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/229898 |journal=ยืนยันอีเมลแล้วที่ |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=41 |via=Google Scholar}}</ref> Some services, such as MuzIcons, combine emoticons and music players in an [[Adobe Flash]]-based widget.<ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://www.muzicons.com
| title       = Muzicons.com – music sharing widget
| access-date = June 25, 2008
}}</ref> In 2004, the [[Trillian (software)|Trillian]] chat application introduced a feature called "emotiblips", which allows Trillian users to stream files to their instant message recipients "as the voice and video equivalent of an emoticon".<ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/faqs/
| title       = The Creators of Trillian and Trillian Pro IM Clients
| publisher   = Cerulean Studios
| access-date  = March 14, 2013
| url-status     = dead
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20100501002235/http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/faqs/
| archive-date = May 1, 2010
}}</ref>

In 2007, [[MTV]] and [[Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]] promoted the "emoticlip" as a form of [[viral marketing]] for the second season of the show ''The Hills''. The emoticlips were twelve short snippets of dialogue from the show, uploaded to YouTube. The emoticlip concept is credited to the Bradley & Montgomery advertising firm, which wrote that they hoped it would be widely adopted as "greeting cards that just happen to be selling something".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003623867 |title=MTV Combats 'Sucky' Relationships |date=August 9, 2007 |last=High |first=Kamau |website=adweek.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225011527/http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003623867 |archive-date=December 25, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Intellectual property rights==
[[File:USpatent6987991 emoticon.jpg|thumb|Patented drop down menu for composing phone mail text message with emoticons<ref name="Nelsonpatent">{{cite patent|country=US|number=6987991|inventor1-first=Johnathon O.|inventor1-last=Nelson|assign=Wildseed Ltd.|pubdate=2006-01-17|title=Emoticon input method and apparatus}}</ref>]]

In 2000, [[Despair, Inc.]] obtained a U.S. [[trademark]] registration for the "frowny" emoticon {{nowrap|<code>:-(</code>}} when used on "greeting cards, posters and art prints". In 2001, they issued a satirical press release, announcing that they would sue Internet users who typed the frowny; the company received protests when its mock release was posted on technology news website [[Slashdot]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Schwartz |first=John |date=January 29, 2001 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/29/technology/29LOGO.html |title=Compressed Data; Don't Mind That Lawsuit, It's Just a Joke |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817050840/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/29/technology/29LOGO.html |archive-date=August 17, 2016 |url-status=live| work=The New York Times}}</ref>

A number of [[patent application]]s have been filed on inventions that assist in communicating with emoticons. A few of these have been issued as US [[patent]]s. US 6987991,<ref name ="Nelsonpatent" /> for example, discloses a method developed in 2001 to send emoticons over a cell phone using a drop-down menu. The stated advantage was that it [[Usability|eases]] entering emoticons.<ref name="Nelsonpatent" />

The emoticon <code>:-)</code> was also filed in 2006 and registered in 2008 as a European [[Community Trademark]] (CTM). In [[Finland]], the [[Supreme Administrative Court of Finland|Supreme Administrative Court]] ruled in 2012 that the emoticon cannot be trademarked,<ref>{{cite web|author=STT |url=https://www.iltalehti.fi/uutiset/a/2012081315947358 |title=Hymiölle ei saa tavaramerkkiä &#124; Kotimaan uutiset |publisher=Iltalehti.fi |date=August 13, 2012 |access-date=March 14, 2013}}</ref> thus repealing a 2006 administrative decision trademarking the emoticons <code>:-)</code>, <code>=)</code>, <code>{{nowrap|1==(}}</code>, <code>:)</code> and {{nowrap|<code>:(</code>.}}<ref>{{cite journal | title = Tavaramerkkilehti | journal = Tavaramerkkilehti | issue = 10 | pages = 27–28 | date = May 31, 2006 | url = http://tavaramerkki.prh.fi/lehti/tm/Tavaramerkkilehti10S_2006.pdf | access-date = June 16, 2007 }}</ref> In 2005, a Russian court rejected a legal claim against [[Siemens]] by a man who claimed to hold a trademark on the <code>;-)</code> emoticon.<ref name="bbcwink" /> In 2008, Russian entrepreneur Oleg Teterin claimed to have been granted the trademark on the <code>;-)</code> emoticon. A license would not "cost that much—tens of thousands of dollars" for companies but would be free of charge for individuals.<ref name="bbcwink">{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7778767.stm |title=Russian hopes to cash in on ;-) |work=BBC News|date=December 11, 2008 |access-date=March 14, 2013}}</ref>

==Unicode==
{{Main|Emoticons (Unicode block)}}

A different, but related, use of the term "emoticon" is found in the [[Unicode Standard]], referring to a subset of [[emoji]] that display facial expressions.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/06/difference-between-emoji-and-emoticons-explained |title=Don't know the difference between emoji and emoticons? Let me explain |first=Alex |last=Hern |date=February 6, 2015 |work=[[The Guardian]] |quote=To complicate matters, some emoji are also emoticons [...] the emoji which depict emotive faces are separated out as "emoticons".}}</ref> The standard explains this usage with reference to existing systems, which provided functionality for substituting certain textual emoticons with images or emoji of the expressions in question.<ref>{{citation|mode=cs1 |url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode13.0.0/ch22.pdf |section=22.9 Miscellaneous Symbols (§ Emoticons: U+1F600–U+1F64F) |title=The Unicode Standard: Core Specification |version=Version 13.0 |page=866 |institution=[[Unicode Consortium]] |date=2020}}</ref>

Some smiley faces were present in Unicode since [[Unicode 1.1|1.1]], including a white [[frowning]] face, a white [[smiling]] face and a black smiling face ("black" refers to a glyph which is filled, "white" refers to a glyph which is unfilled).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://emojipedia.org/glossary/#white|title=📖 Emoji Glossary |publisher=emojipedia.org |access-date=November 25, 2017}}</ref>

{{Unicode chart Miscellaneous Symbols|emoticons}}

The [[Emoticons (Unicode block)|Emoticons]] block was introduced in [[Unicode]] Standard [[Unicode 6.0|version 6.0]] (published in October 2010) and extended by [[Unicode 7.0|7.0]]. It covers Unicode range from U+1F600 to U+1F64F fully.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/Unicode-6.0/U60-1F600.pdf |title=Emoticons |website=The Unicode Consortium}}</ref>
{{Unicode chart Emoticons}}

After that block had been filled, [[Unicode 8.0]] (2015), [[Unicode 9.0|9.0]] (2016) and [[Unicode 10.0|10.0]] (2017) added additional emoticons in the range from U+1F910 to U+1F9FF. Currently, U+1F90C{{snd}}U+1F90F, U+1F93F, U+1F94D{{snd}}U+1F94F, U+1F96C{{snd}}U+1F97F, U+1F998{{snd}}U+1F9CF (excluding U+1F9C0 which contains the [[cheese|🧀]] emoji) and U+1F9E7{{snd}}U+1F9FF do not contain any emoticons since Unicode 10.0.

{{Unicode chart Supplemental Symbols and Pictographs|Emoticon}}

For historic and compatibility reasons, some other heads and figures, which mostly represent different aspects like genders, activities, and professions instead of emotions, are also found in [[Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs#Table of emojis with modifiers|Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs]] (especially U+1F466{{snd}}U+1F487) and [[Transport and Map Symbols#Diversity|Transport and Map Symbols]]. Body parts, mostly hands, are also encoded in the [[Dingbat#Skin tones|Dingbat]] and [[Miscellaneous Symbols#Diversity|Miscellaneous Symbols]] blocks.

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Emotion Markup Language]]
* [[Emotions in virtual communication]]
* [[Henohenomoheji]]
* [[Hieroglyph]]
* [[iConji]]
* [[Internet slang]]
* [[Irony punctuation]]
* [[Kaoani]]
* [[List of emoticons]]
* [[Martian language]]
* [[Pixel art]]
* [[Tête à Toto]]
* [[Written language]]
* [[Typographic alignment]]
* [[Typographic approximation]]
{{Div col end}}

==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite thesis |last=Asteroff |first=Janet |date=1988 |orig-date=1987 |chapter=Appendix C: Face Symbols and ASCII Character Set |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ParalanguageInElectronicMail-ACaseStudy/page/n240/mode/1up |chapter-url-access=registration |title=Paralanguage in Electronic Mail: A Case Study |url=https://archive.org/details/ParalanguageInElectronicMail-ACaseStudy/mode/2up |type=PhD thesis |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Teachers College |via=University Microfilms International |pages=221–228 |id=8721076 |oclc=757048921}}
* Bódi, Zoltán, and Veszelszki, Ágnes (2006). ''Emotikonok. Érzelemkifejezés az internetes kommunikációban'' (''Emoticons: Expressing Emotions in the Internet Communication''). Budapest: Magyar Szemiotikai Társaság.
* {{Cite journal |last1=Churches |first1=Owen |last2=Nicholls |first2=Mike |last3=Thiessen |first3=Myra |last4=Kohler |first4=Mark |last5=Keage |first5=Hannah |date=2014-01-06 |orig-date=2013-07-17, 2013-12-05 |title=Emoticons in mind: An event-related potential study |journal=[[Social Neuroscience]] |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=196–202 |doi=10.1080/17470919.2013.873737 |pmid=24387045 }}
* Dresner, Eli, and Herring, Susan C. (2010). [http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~herring/emoticons.pdf "Functions of the Non-verbal in CMC: Emoticons and Illocutionary Force"] (preprint copy). ''Communication Theory 20'': 249–268.
* {{Cite news |last=Savage |first=Jon |date=2009-02-21 |title=A Design for Life |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/feb/21/smiley-face-design-history |access-date=2024-03-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329231736/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/feb/21/smiley-face-design-history |archive-date=2024-03-29 |department=Design |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}
* Veszelszki, Ágnes (2012). [https://www.academia.edu/5712329/Veszelszki_%C3%81gnes_2012_Connections_of_Image_and_Text_in_Digital_and_Handwritten_Documents_VL2 Connections of Image and Text in Digital and Handwritten Documents]. In: Benedek, András, and Nyíri, Kristóf (eds.): ''The Iconic Turn in Education''. Series Visual Learning Vol. 2. Frankfurt am Main et al.: Peter Lang, pp.&nbsp;97−110.
* Veszelszki, Ágnes (2015). [https://www.academia.edu/15173853/Veszelszki_Agnes_2015_Emoticons_vs._Reaction-Gifs._Non-Verbal_Communication_on_the_Internet_from_the_Aspects_of_Visuality_Verbality_and_Time._In_Benedek_Andr%C3%A1s_Ny%C3%ADri_Krist%C3%B3f_eds._Beyond_Words._Pictures_Parables_Paradoxes_series_Visual_Learning_vol._5_._Frankfurt_Peter_Lang._131_145 "Emoticons vs. Reaction-Gifs: Non-Verbal Communication on the Internet from the Aspects of Visuality, Verbality and Time"]. In: Benedek, András; Nyíri, Kristóf (eds.): ''Beyond Words: Pictures, Parables, Paradoxes'' (series Visual Learning, vol. 5). Frankfurt: Peter Lang. 131–145.
* {{Cite journal |last1=Walther |first1=J. B. |last2=D'Addario |first2=K. P. |date=2001 |title=The impacts of emoticons on message interpretation in computer-mediated communication |journal=Social Science Computer Review |volume=19 |pages=323–345 |doi=10.1177/089443930101900307 |issue=3 |s2cid=16179750|issn=0894-4393 }}
* Wolf, Alecia (October 2000). "Emotional Expression Online: Gender Differences in Emoticon Use". ''CyberPsychology & Behavior'' '''3'''(5): 827–833. {{doi|10.1089/109493100501918}} {{subscription required}}; {{doi|10.1089/10949310050191809}}..

==External links==
* {{Commons and category inline|Emoticon|Smilies}}

{{Instant messaging}}
{{Internet slang}}
{{Nonverbal communication}}
{{List of writing systems}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Emoticons| ]]
[[Category:ASCII art]]
[[Category:Computer-related introductions in 1982]]
[[Category:Email]]
[[Category:Internet forum terminology]]
[[Category:Internet memes]]
[[Category:Internet slang]]
[[Category:Online chat]]
[[Category:Pictograms]]