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New Emojis Have Us Smiling

Eight new emojis are coming to phones everywhere. Do you approve?

Sample emoji designs including a tired face, a thumbprint, a purple splat, a root vegetable, a dead tree, a harp, a shovel, and a flag.

© 2022 Emojipedia, emojipedia.org

These are the sample designs for the eight newly approved emojis that will soon be available on phones everywhere.

There’s good news for people who love to sprinkle their messages with emojis. Eight new emojis are coming to phones and computers worldwide. The designs, which include a purple splat and a tired face, are set to hit devices in 2025.

Emojipedia recently unveiled its new sample designs for the emojis, which were then approved by Unicode Consortium, the organization in charge of maintaining global emoji standards. They’re called sample designs because Apple, Google, and other tech companies will be allowed to create specific versions for their devices.

The emojis include a tired face with bags under its eyes, a human fingerprint, a purple paint splatter, a root vegetable, a dead tree, a small harp, a shovel, and the flag of Sark (an island in the English Channel).

As with all emojis, users will be able to interpret and apply them however they wish. But at least one of the new designs has a purpose. The dead tree is meant to raise awareness about drought, which is one effect of climate change.

“Drought is a natural part of [the] climate cycle, [and] for millions of years trees have adapted to these harsh conditions,” said Brian Baihaki, who submitted the design to Unicode for approval. “But the climate is changing, [and] drought [has] become more frequent, severe, and even spread to other places in [a] short amount of time.”

But the tired face may end up being the most popular of the new lineup, having won “Most Anticipated Emoji” at the World Emoji Awards in 2024 with more than 62 percent of the vote. The paint splatter came in second, followed by the shovel.

Fun Fact

The world’s most popular emoji is the laughing face with tears in its eyes, followed by the red heart.

A large number of emojis are featured, with a focus on the red heart and the laughing face.

© streptococcus/stock.adobe.com; Animation Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Why Some Countries Are Smiley-er

Fifteen smiling faces of different ages and ethnicities.

© oneinchpunch, Wayhome Studio/stock.adobe.com, © Alessandro Biascioli/Dreamstime.com, © Morsa Images—DigitalVision/Getty Images; Photo composite Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

People tend to smile more in some countries than in others, but why? One study suggested that whether a country is “smiley” might depend on its history of immigration.

Researchers noticed that in countries that have historically had high levels of immigration, people smile more. They decided to look for evidence that this is true.

In their study, the researchers asked 726 people in nine countries to answer questions related to when it’s appropriate for someone else to smile. The countries included those with high levels of immigration, like the United States, and those with lower levels of immigration, like Japan. Researchers compared the results from each country with that country’s history of immigration.

Based on the survey results, the researchers concluded that smiles are more common in countries that have taken in more immigrants over the past 500 years. The reason? Scientists believe that when everyone in a population does not speak the same language, people find other ways to communicate—like smiling.

Keep It Short!

A text saying “You’re old” appears on a smartphone screen and a text saying “I know” appears on the screen of an older phone.

© Andreykuzmin, Wittayapapa/Dreamstime.com; Animation Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

If you have a phone, you might be a frequent texter. You can learn more about the history of text messages—and maybe pick up some new texting abbreviations—at Britannica. TTYL!

WORD OF THE DAY

denote

PART OF SPEECH:

verb

Definition:

: to show, mark, or be a sign of (something)

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