🤫
shushing face
Unicode: 1F92B
Description
A yellow face with a hand covering its mouth, eyes wide open, and eyebrows slightly furrowed.
Group:
Smileys & Emotion > face-hand
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Typically represents shock, surprise, disbelief, or the act of keeping a secret (oops!). It can also convey embarrassment or feigned innocence.
Backstory
This emoji was introduced in Unicode 9.0 (2016) as part of a set of new expressions. Its design is based on the common gesture of covering one's mouth in surprise or to hold back words, making it a highly relatable visual.
Usage Examples
- Expressing surprise: 'Did you hear what happened?! speechless 🤫'
- Keeping a secret: 'Don't tell anyone, but... 🤫'
- Feigning innocence: 'Who, me? I'd never... 🤫'
- Reacting to gossip: 'I can't believe they said that! 🤫'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Commonly used to express 'oops I said too much', 'I'm shocked!', or 'I can't believe it!'.
East Asian culture:
Can be used similarly for surprise or 'OMG', but also for 'shut up' or 'don't tell anyone' in a playful way.