Hearts in Unicode

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As a common symbol throughout typographic history, the heart shape has found its way into many character sets and encodings, including those of Unicode. Some characters depict the shape directly, others reference it in a more derived manner.

Contents

History

In the 1990s, NTT DoCoMo released a pager that was aimed at teenagers. The pager was the first of its kind to include the option to send a pictogram as part of the text. [1] [2] The pager only had a single pictogram on its options, which was a heart-shaped pictogram. This is thought to be Shigetaka Kurita's first exposure to the use of digital symbols in text form. The pager received rave reviews in Asia which led to other companies in the region to consider using pictograms in the list of text characters. NTT DoCoMo then released another pager aimed at businesspeople, but this time dropped the heart pictogram from the characters on the pager. Following its release, there was an outcry by users that the pictogram was no longer available, and many customers switched to other providers that had now included a heart pictogram in their markup. This led NTT DoCoMo to reverse their decision and include the heart pictogram. [3]

As the emoji became more popular, other heart colours were launched by Unicode. Since then, each heart color has been given its own meaning. [4]

In early 2022, Middle Eastern news publications suggested that sending a Red Heart emoji on WhatsApp in Saudi Arabia could amount to harassment and if convicted, the sender could serve a maximum sentence of two years in jail. [5]

Notable characters

Red heart

Twemoji2 2764.svg
Noto Emoji v2.034 2764.svg
OpenMoji-color 2764.svg
Emojione1 2764.svg
The Red Heart emoji as it appears on a variety of platforms (clockwise: Twitter's Twemoji, Google's Noto, EmojiOne, OpenMoji)

The red heart (❤️) emoji is an ideogram that is used in communication to express care and as a romantic or love gesture. It is frequently seen as the most popular emoji in surveys conducted by NTT DoCoMo. [6]

Smiling face with heart-shaped eyes

The Heart Eyes (😍) emoji is to express happiness towards something. The Unicode Consortium listed it as the third most used emoji in 2019, behind the Red Heart and Face with Tears of Joy emoji. [7] It frequently appears in the top 10 lists for the most common emoji. [8]

Encoding

A common emoticon for the heart is <3. In Unicode several heart symbols are available in text format:

GlyphDescription HTML code Alt codes
U+2766 FLORAL HEART&#x2766;
U+2767 ROTATED FLORAL HEART BULLET&#x2767;
U+2619 REVERSED ROTATED FLORAL HEART BULLET&#x2619;
U+2661 WHITE HEART SUIT&#x2661; or &#9825;
U+2665 BLACK HEART SUIT in device default representation&#x2665; or &#9829; or &hearts;Alt + 3
♥︎U+2665 BLACK HEART SUIT in explicit plaintext representation&#x2665;&#xfe0e;
♥️U+2665 BLACK HEART SUIT in explicit emoji representation&#x2665;&#xfe0f;
U+2764 HEAVY BLACK HEART in device default representation&#x2764; or &#10084;
❤︎U+2764 HEAVY BLACK HEART in explicit plaintext representation&#x2764;&#xfe0e;
❤️U+2764 HEAVY BLACK HEART in explicit emoji representation&#x2764;&#xfe0f;
U+2765 ROTATED HEAVY BLACK HEART BULLET&#x2765; or &#10085;
U+2763 HEAVY HEART EXCLAMATION MARK ORNAMENT&#x2763; or &#10083;
🎔 U+1F394 HEART WITH TIP ON THE LEFT&#x1f394;

In Code page 437, the original character set of the IBM PC, the value of 3 (hexadecimal 03) represents the heart symbol. This value is shared with the non-printing ETX control character, which overrides the glyph in many contexts.

The single Unicode character heart related emojis can be found on the Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs, Supplemental Symbols and Pictographs, and Symbols and Pictographs Extended-A ranges.

GlyphUnicode nameCodepointsSkin tone variants
♥️Black Heart SuitU+2665 U+FE0F
❣️Heavy Heart Exclamation Mark OrnamentU+2763 U+FE0F
❤️Heavy Black HeartU+2764 U+FE0F
🏩Love HotelU+1F3E9
💌Love LetterU+1F48C
💏KissU+1F48F💏🏻💏🏼💏🏽💏🏾💏🏿🧑🏻‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏽🧑🏻‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏾🧑🏻‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏿🧑🏼‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏻🧑🏼‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏽🧑🏼‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏾🧑🏼‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏿🧑🏽‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏻🧑🏽‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏼🧑🏽‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏾🧑🏽‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏿🧑🏾‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏻🧑🏾‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏼🧑🏾‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏽🧑🏾‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏿🧑🏿‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏻🧑🏿‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏼🧑🏿‍❤️‍💋‍🧑🏽
👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨Kiss: Man, ManU+1F468 U+200D U+2764 U+FE0F U+200D U+1F48B U+200D U+1F468👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏾👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏿👨🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👨🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼👨🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽👨🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏾👨🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏿👨🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👨🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼👨🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽👨🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏾👨🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏿👨🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👨🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼👨🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽👨🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏾👨🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏿👨🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👨🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼👨🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽👨🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏾👨🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏿
👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩Kiss: Woman, WomanU+1F469 U+200D U+2764 U+FE0F U+200D U+1F48B U+200D U+1F469👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏼👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏽👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏿👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏻👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏼👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏽👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏿👩🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏻👩🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏼👩🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏽👩🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾👩🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏿👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏻👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏼👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏽👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏿👩🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏻👩🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏼👩🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏽👩🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾👩🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏿
👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨Kiss: Woman, ManU+1F469 U+200D U+2764 U+FE0F U+200D U+1F48B U+200D U+1F468👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏾👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏿👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏾👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏿👩🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼👩🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽👩🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏾👩🏽‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏿👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏾👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏿👩🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼👩🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽👩🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏾👩🏿‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏿
💑Couple with HeartU+1F491💑🏻 💑🏼 💑🏽 💑🏾 💑🏿 🧑🏻‍❤️‍🧑🏼 🧑🏻‍❤️‍🧑🏽 🧑🏻‍❤️‍🧑🏾 🧑🏻‍❤️‍🧑🏿 🧑🏼‍❤️‍🧑🏻 🧑🏼‍❤️‍🧑🏽 🧑🏼‍❤️‍🧑🏾 🧑🏼‍❤️‍🧑🏿 🧑🏽‍❤️‍🧑🏻 🧑🏽‍❤️‍🧑🏼 🧑🏽‍❤️‍🧑🏾 🧑🏽‍❤️‍🧑🏿 🧑🏾‍❤️‍🧑🏻 🧑🏾‍❤️‍🧑🏼 🧑🏾‍❤️‍🧑🏽 🧑🏾‍❤️‍🧑🏿 🧑🏿‍❤️‍🧑🏻 🧑🏿‍❤️‍🧑🏼 🧑🏿‍❤️‍🧑🏽 🧑🏿‍❤️‍🧑🏾
👨‍❤️‍👨Couple with Heart: Man, ManU+1F468 U+200D U+2764 U+FE0F U+200D U+1F468👨🏻‍❤️‍👨🏻👨🏻‍❤️‍👨🏼👨🏻‍❤️‍👨🏽👨🏻‍❤️‍👨🏾👨🏻‍❤️‍👨🏿👨🏼‍❤️‍👨🏻👨🏼‍❤️‍👨🏼👨🏼‍❤️‍👨🏽👨🏼‍❤️‍👨🏾👨🏼‍❤️‍👨🏿👨🏽‍❤️‍👨🏻👨🏽‍❤️‍👨🏼👨🏽‍❤️‍👨🏽👨🏽‍❤️‍👨🏾👨🏽‍❤️‍👨🏿👨🏾‍❤️‍👨🏻👨🏾‍❤️‍👨🏼👨🏾‍❤️‍👨🏽👨🏾‍❤️‍👨🏾👨🏾‍❤️‍👨🏿👨🏿‍❤️‍👨🏻👨🏿‍❤️‍👨🏼👨🏿‍❤️‍👨🏽👨🏿‍❤️‍👨🏾👨🏿‍❤️‍👨🏿
👩‍❤️‍👩Couple with Heart: Woman, WomanU+1F469 U+200D U+2764 U+FE0F U+200D U+1F469👩🏻‍❤️‍👩🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍👩🏼👩🏻‍❤️‍👩🏽👩🏻‍❤️‍👩🏾👩🏻‍❤️‍👩🏿👩🏼‍❤️‍👩🏻👩🏼‍❤️‍👩🏼👩🏼‍❤️‍👩🏽👩🏼‍❤️‍👩🏾👩🏼‍❤️‍👩🏿👩🏽‍❤️‍👩🏻👩🏽‍❤️‍👩🏼👩🏽‍❤️‍👩🏽👩🏽‍❤️‍👩🏾👩🏽‍❤️‍👩🏿👩🏾‍❤️‍👩🏻👩🏾‍❤️‍👩🏼👩🏾‍❤️‍👩🏽👩🏾‍❤️‍👩🏾👩🏾‍❤️‍👩🏿👩🏿‍❤️‍👩🏻👩🏿‍❤️‍👩🏼👩🏿‍❤️‍👩🏽👩🏿‍❤️‍👩🏾👩🏿‍❤️‍👩🏿
👩‍❤️‍👨Couple with Heart: Woman, ManU+1F469 U+200D U+2764 U+FE0F U+200D U+1F468👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏼👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏽👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏾👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏿👩🏼‍❤️‍👨🏻👩🏼‍❤️‍👨🏼👩🏼‍❤️‍👨🏽👩🏼‍❤️‍👨🏾👩🏼‍❤️‍👨🏿👩🏽‍❤️‍👨🏻👩🏽‍❤️‍👨🏼👩🏽‍❤️‍👨🏽👩🏽‍❤️‍👨🏾👩🏽‍❤️‍👨🏿👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏻👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏼👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏽👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏾👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏿👩🏿‍❤️‍👨🏻👩🏿‍❤️‍👨🏼👩🏿‍❤️‍👨🏽👩🏿‍❤️‍👨🏾👩🏿‍❤️‍👨🏿
💒WeddingU+1F492
💓Beating HeartU+1F493
💔Broken HeartU+1F494
💕Two HeartsU+1F495
💖Sparkling HeartU+1F496
💗Growing HeartU+1F497
💘Heart with ArrowU+1F498
💙Blue HeartU+1F499
💚Green HeartU+1F49A
💛Yellow HeartU+1F49B
💜Purple HeartU+1F49C
💝Heart with RibbonU+1F49D
💞Revolving HeartsU+1F49E
💟Heart DecorationU+1F49F
🖤Black HeartU+1F5A4
😍 Smiling Face with Heart-Shaped EyesU+1F60D
😘 Face Blowing a KissU+1F618
😻 Smiling Cat Face with Heart-Shaped EyesU+1F63B
🤍White HeartU+1F90D
🤎Brown HeartU+1F90E
🥰Smiling Face with HeartsU+1F970
🧡Orange HeartU+1F9E1
🩵Light Blue HeartU+1FA75
🩶Grey HeartU+1FA76
🩷Pink HeartU+1FA77
🫀Anatomical HeartU+1FAC0
❤️‍🩹Mending HeartU+2764 U+FE0F U+200D U+1FA79
❤️‍🔥Heart on FireU+2764 U+FE0F U+200D U+1F525

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Face with Tears of Joy emoji</span> Emoji featuring laughing crying face

Face with Tears of Joy (😂) is an emoji that represents a crying with laughter facial expression. While it is broadly referred to as an emoji, since it is used to demonstrate emotion, it is also referred to as an emoticon. Since the emoji has evolved from numerous different designs pre-unicode, it has different names and meanings in different regions and cultures. It is also known as Tears of Joy emoji, lol emoji, joy emoji, laughing emoji, cry-laugh emoji, crying laughing emoji, or the laughing crying emoji. The emoji is used in communication to portray joking and teasing on messaging platforms including Apple's iMessage and Meta's WhatsApp, as well as social media websites such as Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram. The emoji is one of the most commonly used emojis in the Emoticons Unicode block. The Oxford Dictionary recognized the emoji as its Word of the Year in 2015 due to its popular usage, and regarded it as the most popular emoji.

Shigetaka Kurita is a Japanese interface designer often cited for his early work with emoji sets. Many refer to him as the creator of the emoji, a claim that has been clarified in recent years. He was part of the team that created one of the first emojis used solely for communication, a heart-shaped pictogram that appeared on an NTT DoCoMo pager aimed at teenagers. It went on to become the Red Heart emoji.

The implementation of emojis on different platforms took place across a three-decade period, starting in the 1990s. Today, the exact appearance of emoji is not prescribed but can vary between fonts and platforms, much like different typefaces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Face with Heart Eyes emoji</span> Emoji

The Heart Eyes (😍) emoji is an ideogram that is used in communication to express happiness towards something. The Unicode Consortium listed it as the third most used emoji in 2019.

References

  1. "WORLDKINGS - Worldkings News - Asia Records Institute (ASRI) – Shigetaka Kurita: World's first designer created emoji sets". Worldkings - World Records Union. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  2. "The Origin Of The Word 'Emoji'". Science Friday. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  3. Mayer, Johanna. "The Origin Of The Word 'Emoji'". Science Friday .
  4. Hsieh, Carina; Varina, Rachel (5 August 2021). "The Color of the Heart Emoji You Send Is Seriously Important". Cosmopolitan . Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  5. Nasrallah, Tawfiq (13 February 2022). "Sending red heart emojis on WhatsApp 'can land user in jail' in Saudi Arabia". Gulf News . Dubai. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  6. Kraus, Rachel (February 14, 2020). "Heart emoji, ranked". Mashable.
  7. "Frequency of Emoji Use 2019". Unicode.
  8. Silva, Christianna (February 9, 2022). "Tears of joy emoji might be experiencing a renaissance". Mashable.