Five things you didn’t know about emojis

Smiling Face with Heart Eyes and Clinking Glasses all round - it’s World Emoji Day.

Invented in Japan in 1999, over the past decade these tiny symbols have become an integral part of digital language all over the world.

So here are five things you may not know about emojis:

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The English meaning of ‘emoji’ is a complete coincidence

It’s natural to imagine that emoji is a portmanteau word involving the English word ‘emotion’ - indeed, that’s exactly how we got the word “emoticon”, the precursor to the present-day emoji.

However, it turns out that the resemblance to the word ‘emotion’ is a complete coincidence. The name comes from the Japanese words “e”, meaning picture, and “moji”, meaning character, the London Evening Standard reports.

Emojis are for lovers

Given social media’s reputation as a hive of discord, it’s nice to know that three of the five most popular emojis used across Facebook and Facebook Messenger involve hearts.

According to an infographic released by the social platform, Smiling Face with Heart Eyes clocks in at number two (second only to perennial favourite Face with Tears of Joy), followed by Face Blowing a Kiss, with a simple heart emoji the fourth most-popular.

You won’t find a gun emoji anymore

As gun control activists push back against the widespread depiction of firearms in entertainment - seen by many as a factor in normalising gun violence - all major emoji platforms now have phased out their handgun emoji.

Whether you’re on Twitter, WhatsApp or Facebook, you’ll see that the old firearm icon has now been replaced by a brightly coloured water pistol.

That’s not the only controversial emoji. Chinese Apple users won’t find the national flag of Taiwan, considered a Chinese possession by Beijing, anywhere on their iOS keyboards, according to Emojipedia.

Some emojis are just baffling

Many of the most unfamiliar emojis for western users can be explained by cultural difference, as they portray foods, decorations and characters native to Japan.

However, one of the least-used emojis on Facebook (and almost certainly everywhere) is the intriguingly niche “Man in a Business Suit Levitating”.

In case you were wondering, the figure actually originated in Microsoft’s image-based Webdings font and is based on the Japanese cover art for an album by The Specials, Newsweek reports.

But they’re going to keep on coming

If you already struggle to wrap your head around some of the more abstract offerings on your emoji keyboard, bad news. Another 70 emojis are set to be added to Apple’s next iPhone operating system later this year.

Users will now be able to send ideograms of balls of wool, lettuce, test tubes and a whole lot of animals - kangaroos, parrots and raccoons, to name a few.