Meet the laugh-cry legend: the face with tears of joy, a.k.a. the emoji that basically replaced typing LOL for a decade. It’s the go-to for “I’m laughing so hard I’m actually leaking,” from group chats to auntie Facebook comments. Oxford Dictionaries even crowned it Word of the Year in 2015, which is peak internet culture energy. These days it’s sometimes labeled a “millennial/mom” laugh while Gen Z reaches for the skull 💀, but 😂 still delivers timeless, wholesome cackle vibes.
On Apple/iOS, it’s a sunny yellow face seen head-on with tight, smiling eyes like upside-down crescents, a big open grin showing the top row of teeth, and glossy blue teardrops shooting from the outer corners. The tears angle outward at about 45 degrees, bright and glassy, like little comic splashes. Soft shading and a slight 3D gloss make the whole face pop as if it’s mid-laughing fit.
Use one 😂 for a polite chuckle, three for I’m wheezing, and a full row for absolute chaos—bonus points with all-caps or a keyboard smash. It can be deployed sarcastically to soften a roast, to make a dad joke land, or as the safest corporate Slack reaction when HR is watching. People also sling it ironically to signal “I’m fine, this isn’t awkward at all 😂,” which, of course, makes it funnier. Offline, it’s merch royalty: balloons, T-shirts, birthday cakes, and party decor screaming “good vibes only.”
Definition
A smiling face with curved tear filled eyes that are mostly closed and open mouth. Upper teeth are shown. To be so happy that you weep tears of joy.
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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)
1 of 2393
Apple/iOS Picture
Google Android Picture
Google Hangouts Picture
Twitter.com Picture
LG Emoji Picture
Samsung Emoji Picture
Phantom Open Emoji Picture
ASCII Conversion
"Short Code" Name
:joy:
Keywords
Tears, Cry, Joy, Happy
Unicode Category Information
Unicode Category
Emoticons
Unicode Range
1F600–1F64F
Unicode Subcategory
Faces
Editorial Comment
The person is crying with a smile on their face. iEmoji old name: Tears of joy
Proposed Unicode Information & Notes
Unicode Category
Faces and Smiley's
Unicode Subcategory
Faces
Names & Annotations
FACE WITH TEARS OF JOY Old name: HAPPY AND CRYING FACE Temporary Notes: Forms a pair with e-34A. with tears of joy
