The 🤫 emoji expresses silence and the suggestion to keep quiet. You use it to ask for a little discretion, do shh or indicate that a piece of information remains confidential.
Its common name: the face with a finger over the mouth. Depending on the context, it can also refer to a secret to maintain a somewhat sly attitude or even show irritation.
To test your knowledge of emojis like 🤫, you can take the quiz here :
Want to take it a step further? Discover The 10 Emojis That 9 Out of 10 People Misunderstand. Do you really know them?

🤫: Face with a finger over its mouth emoji: What does it mean?
The emoji 🤫 shows a smiling face with theindex finger resting on the lips. The message is straightforward: it calls for the silence and ask the person you're talking to to be quiet or lower their voice.
Its meaning varies depending on the context. Here are the most common meanings:
- Ask for silence : A finger to the mouth is a signal to be quiet or to stay still quiet.
- Keeping a Secret : You're pointing out that some information is still missing confidential and that it must remain between the two of you.
- Exercise discretion : The “shh” gesture is also used to hint at a surprise or an upcoming event without giving everything away.
- A slightly sly tone : Depending on the specific design of each application, the face appears either benevolent, or a little mischievouseven annoyed.
Examples of use:
- «Shh, keep it down. 🤫»
- «You have to keep this a secret. 🤫»
- «I think I've said enough. 🤫»
- «Let's keep this between us, okay? 🤫»
General information about this emoji
The emoji 🤫 belongs to the family of faces that wear a hand or one finger near the mouth. You'll find him alongside the’emoji of a face with a hand over its mouth 🤭 and the’hugging face emoji 🤗.
All three make the same hand gesture in front of their faces, but this one clearly poses a finger to the lips to call for silence.
Here is the basic information you need to know:
- Common name: face with a finger over the mouth (name CLDR : Shushing Face)
- Last name Unicode official: Face with Finger Covering Closed Lips
- Coded Unicode : U+1F92B
- Version Unicode : 10.0 (year 2017)
- Category: Smileys & Emotion
- Subcategory: Face and Hands
The result varies depending on the platforms. On Apple, the face smiles with a little compact hand. Google has a more neutral tone with a larger hand. Samsung chooses striking dark eyes and a darker shade of yellow.
Other names
This emoji of a face with a finger over its mouth has several names, depending on who you ask and the platforms. They all revolve around the same idea: asking for the silence or keep a secret.
- silence emoji or the "shh" emoji
- shut up emoji
- Low key emoji
- Finger-over-mouth emoji
What are emojis used for?
Emojis are used to express your emotions and ideas more easily in a written message. A single word sometimes lacks nuance. A short face Yellow, on the other hand, immediately sets the tone.
You put an emoji crying with laughter 😭 to highlight something funny or sad. You add the thumbs-up emoji 👍 to show your approval. You send a heart to express your affection. Without emojis, a message can quickly seem cold or dry, depending on the context.
These little ones symbols also lighten the tone of a conversation. With just two or three emojis, you can convey a sentiment without going into a long explanation. It's a handy way to set the mood quiet, teasing or playful.
The meaning often remains the same from one platform from one person to another and from one country to another. There are cultural exceptions: the smiling face with a halo emoji takes on a different meaning in certain countries such as China. In practice, you can pretty much make yourself understood just by using these emojis.
When the words are not enough; one red-cheeked emoji 😊 makes a message warmer and more personal. Even a request for silence goes better with the emoji at finger to the lips 🤫: You're asking for the discretion without ever coming across as abrupt.






