The emoji 😭 expresses a intense sadness, deep sorrow, or a sense of distress. But depending on the context, this a face streaming with tears takes on a completely different meaning: disappointment, injustice, pleading, or even a joy so powerful that it brings tears to your eyes.
You can also find out more by clicking here are the 10 emojis that 9 out of 10 people misunderstand. And you, do you really know them?
To test your knowledge of emojis like 😭, you can take the quiz here :
How to Use the 😭 Emoji and When to Choose 😢 or 😂
The 😭 is used when you want to show that you're completely overwhelmed by emotion. A sad message, a heartbreaking piece of news, a true crying fit or an over-the-top reaction just for fun. The Generation Z She mostly uses it ironically, to say “I’m dying of laughter” or “that’s so cute.”.
Here are three typical situations where you'll post a 😭:
- Sincere sadness : “My cat is sick 😭” to share a real grief.
- Humor and Exaggeration : “I missed my bus by 2 seconds 😭,” a funny reaction to a minor frustration.
- Great joy : “You’ve spoiled me so much 😭❤️,” from tears of joy mixed with emotion.
The difference between 😢, 😭, and 😂
These emojis look alike, but the subtle differences make all the difference. Here's how to choose the right one based on the feeling you want to convey.
| Emoji | Last name | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 😢 | crying face | A quiet sadness, a single tear on her cheek, her emotions held in check. |
| 😭 | Face crying out loud | A intense grief, tears streaming from closed eyes, or over-the-top humor. |
| 😂 | Face laughing until it cries | The Pure One fit of laughter, when you laugh so hard that tears of joy stream down your face. |
😭 Meaning and Uses of the Emoji That’s Crying Its Eyes Out
the a face streaming with tears shows a yellow face, the with my eyes closed and a wide-open mouth, with two streams of tears that gush forth. Its primary meaning remains the intense sadness, the grief or pain that we can no longer contain.
But this emoji actually covers a much broader spectrum:
- Grief and Sadness : to share a loss, bad news, or heartbreak.
- Great joy and emotion : express tears of joy in response to a touching moment, a gift, or a declaration. In this regard, he is similar to the’begging face emoji 🥺 when you sweetly whine to ask for something.
- Humorous and ironic use : It's used to express “laughing so hard you cry” or to playfully exaggerate a minor everyday annoyance (“My coffee is cold 😭”).
The rendering varies slightly from one platform to another. On some systems, the mouth is wide open; on others, it is more closed. But the meaning remains the same.
Here are a few concrete examples of how to use it in a message:
- Why didn't you come? 😭
- I don't want to talk about it anymore, it hurts too much 😭.
- He crossed the road at the wrong time. Poor animal 😭.
- Thank you, I don't know how to thank you 😭.
- Please, do it for me 😭.
The origin of this smiley
The story of 😭 begins in 2007, when three engineers from Google (Kat Momoi, Mark Davis, and Markus Scherer) propose to the Unicode Consortium to encode Japanese emojis in the Unicode standard. This reference document is numbered L2/07-257.
A more complete proposal follows in 2009 (reference L2/09-026), featuring the same authors, plus Yasuo Kida and Peter Edberg (Apple) as well as Darick Tong (Google). These two files contain a total of 753 emojis.
The face crying hot tears is validated in Unicode 6.0, published in October 2010, under the official name Loudly Crying Face. Its standardization for the general public followed with the version Emoji 1.0, published on June 9, 2015.
Since then, each platform (Google, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter/X) displays its own graphic version, but the meaning remains the same. The website Emojipedia provides the complete description of this emoji.
Characteristics of the smiley crying its eyes out
This table summarizes the technical specifications of the emoji 😭.
| Emoji version | Emoji 1.0 (June 9, 2015) |
| Usual name | Face crying out loud |
| Official Unicode name | Loudly Crying Face |
| Category | Smileys and emotions |
| Sub-category | Worried expression |
| Apple designation | crying face |
| code point | U+1F62D |
| Decimal code (to copy) | ALT+128557 |
| Unicode Version | Unicode 6.0 (October 2010) |
| Related keywords | face, tears, crying, sad, grief |
To insert the 😭, you can copy it directly or type ALT+128557 on a PC, or use the emoji keyboard on your smartphone.
This emoji has several other names depending on the context:
- Crying Emoji
- Emoji bursting into tears
- Moaning or whining emoji
- Crying emoji (informal)
- Emoji crying like a Madeleine
- Crying or wailing emoji
- Crying-so-hard-I-can't-stop-crying emoji
Now you know all about the 😭 and its three main meanings: sadness, intense joy, and exaggerated humor. All you have to do now is use it in your messages and social media posts!
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