The nauseated face is the universal “nope, my stomach said log out” reaction. It pops up when something is gross, cringe, or aggressively unappetizing—think mystery leftovers, cursed recipes, or that one TikTok that gave you the ick in 0.5 seconds. People also use it for motion sickness, hangovers, food poisoning flashbacks, and the dating trend of getting “the ick” over tiny red-flag behaviors. It doubles as sarcastic drama too: when a caption is so cheesy it’s cute-and-sickening, you’ll see this green grimace deployed with love and a little shade.
On Apple/iOS, it’s a round green face with a darker gradient, furrowed brows, squeezed-shut eyes, puffed chipmunk cheeks, and a tight flat mouth like it’s holding everything back—distinct from the actual puke emoji. The look is straight-on, very “about to hurl but still clinging to dignity.” You’ll spot it in replies to stinky-trend stories, questionable buffet photos, and overpriced-rent screenshots that make your wallet queasy. It pairs well with gagging jokes, “that ain’t it, chief,” and the classic “instant ick” comment, and it often shows up right before the face-vomiting emoji when the situation fully devolves.
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Emoji History The emoji code/ image log of changes.
This emoji first appeared in OSX / iOS after the iOS 10 update.
