What it doesn't mean
It can mean sorrow, but more often it means yearning, pleading, or being touched by something lovely. Emojipedia lists adoration and being emotionally moved among its uses.
It is a recognised gesture: two index fingers nervously pressed together, signalling a shy or bashful request.
What it really means
🥺 is the emoji version of the look a dog gives you when you are holding a sandwich.
Its official name is Face with Pleading Eyes, and it joined Unicode in 2018 (version 11.0). It shows a yellow face with raised, worried eyebrows, a small frown and enormous, shining eyes. Emojipedia describes it as a face begging, pleading or yearning.
That basic meaning stretches in two directions. One is asking: "can you bring me back a croissant 🥺" is a request made impossible to refuse. The other is being moved: "you remembered my birthday?? 🥺" is not begging at all, but the feeling of being so touched that your eyes go big and wet. Emojipedia lists adoration and being emotionally moved among its uses.
It caught on fast. Emojipedia reports that at its peak it was Twitter's third most popular emoji. On TikTok it found a partner: 🥺👉👈, the pleading face plus two index fingers pointing at each other, a picture of fingers nervously pressed together. The pair means shyness, a bashful request or a hesitant confession, and it is often gently flirtatious.
The main risk is tone. In a close chat, 🥺 is soft and sweet. In a work message, or as a way to push someone into a favour, it can feel like emotional pressure in miniature. And because it can mean both sad and touched, a 🥺 after real bad news can be ambiguous. Words help.
Where it comes from
- 2018
Unicode 11.0 adds Face with Pleading Eyes (U+1F97A).
In real life
- 'Can you bring me back a croissant 🥺' — the puppy-eyes ask.
- 'You remembered my birthday?? 🥺' — touched, almost tearful.
- 'Do you maybe want to get coffee sometime 🥺👉👈' — shy, and a little flirtatious.
Questions
Q01What does 🥺 mean?
Pleading or yearning, like puppy-dog eyes, or being moved by something sweet. It can also simply mean 'aww'.
Q02What does 🥺👉👈 mean?
Shyness. The two pointing fingers stand for fingers nervously pressed together, so the pair means 'I'm shyly asking' or 'I'm a bit embarrassed to say this'.
Q03Is 🥺 flirty?
It can be, especially with 👉👈. Between friends it is usually just cute or pleading.
Q04What is the official name of 🥺?
Face with Pleading Eyes (short name: pleading face), code point U+1F97A, added in Unicode 11.0 in 2018.
Sources
- Pleading Face — Emojipedia (Unicode 11.0 in 2018; adoration; 🥺👉👈 on TikTok; Twitter ranking).
- Emoji Versions chart — Unicode Consortium.