The sleepy face is the “I’m fading fast” classic, the one with the tiny frown and that unmistakable blue sleep bubble. On Apple/iOS it’s a yellow, front-facing face with soft shading, eyes closed in droopy arcs, and a glossy teardrop-shaped bubble puffing from the left nostril—cute, cartoonish, and very not-a-tear. That bubble comes straight from manga/anime shorthand for someone dozing off, which is why this emoji reads drowsy rather than full-on snoring. People drop it when the vibes are: up past 2 a.m., post-commute slump, or mid-lecture eyelids playing Tetris.
Online it doubles as a bored reaction—“your 37-slide presentation? 😪”—and as a gentle “send cuddles, I’m sleepy” energy. It’s the cousin of 😴 (with Zzz), but this one says you’re nodding off or emotionally drained, not already out cold. Because the bubble looks tear-ish, it can read “tired-sad,” perfect for finals week posts, jet-lag rants, and “I’m over adulting” memes. Sarcastically, it dunks on stale drama (“that plot twist put me to bed”), and flirt-wise, it’s the “come tuck me in” of emojis—soft, needy, and a little adorable.
Definition
A face with closed eyes, relaxed slightly open mouth, eyebrows and a snot bubble. A balloon dangling from one nostril (a "snot bubble") indicates sleep. Said bubble inflating and deflating as they snore. Usually done when a character sleeps at an inappropriate moment (e.g. during class) [cite: manga iconography wiki]
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Emoji History The emoji code/ image log of changes.
This emoji was part of the proprietary / non-standardized emoji set first introduced by Japanese carriers like Softbank. These emojis became part of the Apple iPhone starting in iOS 2.2 as an unlockable feature on handsets sold in English speaking countries.
In iOS 5 / OSX 10.7, the underlying code that the Apple OS generates for this emoji was changed.
Emoji General Information
Twitter Emoji Popularity (Rank)
133 of 2393
Apple/iOS Picture
Google Android Picture
Google Hangouts Picture
Twitter.com Picture
LG Emoji Picture
Samsung Emoji Picture
Phantom Open Emoji Picture
Not created yet
ASCII Conversion
"Short Code" Name
:sleepy:
Keywords
Sleepy, Tired, Exhausted
Unicode Category Information
Unicode Category
Emoticons
Unicode Range
1F600–1F64F
Unicode Subcategory
Faces
Editorial Comment
iEmoji old name: Tear shed but getting over it (incorrect). Sad with a tear but not crying that bad. (lol)
