The smiling face with tear emoji 🥲 is one people reach for without thinking, and its tone shifts with the moment. Unicode officially calls it “Smiling Face with Tear” (U+1F972).
In everyday use its exact tone depends on the context and who is reading it. Like any emoji, the exact tone depends on context, the platform, and who is reading it — so a few words alongside it remove any doubt.
“One small symbol, a lot of meaning, depending on the moment.”
Context matters with 🥲. The same emoji can read warmly among friends but feel abrupt when sent alone to someone you barely know. Read the conversation, and add a few words when the tone could be taken the wrong way.
⚠️ Nuanced but new. 🥲 expresses a mixture a stranger is unlikely to read correctly without words.
| Context | Scale |
|---|---|
| Formal use | ██░░░░░░░░ 2/10 |
| Casual use | █████████░ 9/10 |
| Positive | █████████░ 9/10 |
| Negative | ███████░░░ 7/10 |
| Romantic | ████░░░░░░ 4/10 |
| Platonic | ██████░░░░ 6/10 |
In a group chat, a single 🥲 can answer faster than a sentence — on a friend’s post it reads as a reaction, in a reply it reads as tone.
| Emoji version | Emoji 13.0 |
| Unicode | U+1F972 |
| Category | Smileys & Emotion |
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Spanish | cara sonriente con lágrima |
| Portuguese | rosto sorridente com lágrima |
| French | visage souriant avec une larme |
| German | lachendes Gesicht mit Träne |
| Arabic | وجه مبتسم مع دمعة |
| Hindi | आँसुओं वाला मुस्काता चेहरा |
| Urdu | آنسو کے ساتھ مسکراتا چہرہ |
| Japanese | 嬉し涙の顔 |
| Korean | 눈물 흘리며 웃는 얼굴 |
| Chinese | 含泪的笑脸 |
| Turkish | gözü yaşlı gülümseyen yüz |
| Indonesian | wajah tersenyum dengan air mata |
| Filipino | mukhang nakangiti na may luha |
🥲 appears widely across social media, messaging and brand communications. Its exact meaning keeps evolving with internet culture and the communities that use it most.
| Format | Code |
|---|---|
| Unicode | U+1F972 |
| HTML Decimal | 🥲 |
| HTML Hex | 🥲 |
| CSS | \1F972 |
Full specification: Unicode Full Emoji List.
Win + . → search the nameControl + Command + Space🥲Its meaning depends on context — see the Tone Guide above. Check the Misread Alert and Tone Guide above for context.
Same Unicode (U+1F972), different artwork — Apple, Google, Samsung and Microsoft each design their own.
Check the Tone Guide — a low formal score means keep it out of formal, client-facing messages.
😥 Sad but Relieved Face | 😵💫 Face with Spiral Eyes | 🤒 Face with Thermometer | 🤕 Face with Head-bandage
More at Emoji Mood Combos and Stylish Fonts Generator. Browse Smileys & Emotion Emojis.