Emoji Has Nothing To Do With Emotions (And Everything To Do With Japanese)
Everyone thinks emoji comes from 'emotion' — but it's 100% Japanese. Meet the two kanji behind the world's favorite language. Under 155 chars ✓
Wait — emoji doesn't mean "emotion"? 🤯
Here's a fact that will ruin your group chat forever: emoji has absolutely zero connection to the English word "emotion." None. Zilch. The similarity is a total coincidence — a linguistic false friend so convincing that even native English speakers have believed it for decades.
So what does emoji mean? Buckle up.
The Word
絵文字 — emoji — (pronounced eh-moh-jee, three even syllables)
Literal meaning: picture character
Origin Story
Emoji is a compound of two Japanese words:
- 絵 (e) — "picture" or "drawing"
- 文字 (moji) — "character," "letter," or "written symbol"
Put them together and you get e-moji: a pictographic character. Simple as that.
The first emoji set was created in 1999 by Shigetaka Kurita, a designer at NTT DoCoMo (a Japanese mobile carrier). He was trying to squeeze more information into tiny pager-style messages — weather forecasts, maps, emotions — in a single pixel-art icon. He designed 176 original emoji, each just 12×12 pixels. Those 176 little squares launched a global revolution.
When Apple added emoji support to the iPhone in 2008 (Japan first, worldwide in 2011), the word crossed into English — and everyone assumed it must come from "emotion." It doesn't. The resemblance is pure coincidence. Linguists call this a folk etymology — a false story that feels too right to question.
Fun Fact
The original 176 Kurita emoji are now in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) permanent collection in New York City. That's right — a 12×12 pixel heart is considered fine art. 🖼️
Also: the most used emoji in the world is 😂 (Face with Tears of Joy). It was even Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Year in 2015. The Japanese gave the world a 12-pixel doodle. The world responded by electing it word of the year.
Use It
Japanese learners, here are three ways to work emoji into conversation naturally:
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絵文字を送ってください。 Emoji o okutte kudasai. "Please send me an emoji."
-
この絵文字、かわいいね！ Kono emoji, kawaii ne! "This emoji is so cute!"
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絵文字なしで気持ちを伝えるのは難しい。 Emoji nashi de kimochi o tsutaeru no wa muzukashii. "It's hard to express feelings without emoji."
Ready to Use Your New Vocabulary?
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Because 絵文字 are great, but actual words are better. 😄