face with raised eyebrow
Unicode: 1F928
Description
A yellow circular face with a hand over its mouth, often depicted with wide eyes and a slightly blushing expression. It conveys a sense of surprise, embarrassment, or awkwardness.
Group:
Smileys & Emotion > face-neutral-skeptical
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Typically represents embarrassment, shame, shock, surprise, or awkwardness. It can also imply a 'whoops' or 'my bad' moment.
Backstory
This emoji was introduced in Unicode 9.0 (2016) as part of a set of new expressions conveying more nuanced emotions. Its design captures the common human gesture of covering one's mouth when surprised or self-conscious, quickly making it a popular choice for 'facepalm' or 'oh no' moments without explicitly showing those actions.
Usage Examples
- Expressing embarrassment: 'I just realized I was talking to myself in public. 🤦♀️'
- Reacting to an awkward situation: 'Someone just walked in on me singing to my cat. 🤭'
- Conveying a secret or gossip: 'Don't tell anyone, but... 🤭'
- Showing surprise: 'You actually did it! 🤭'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Commonly used to express awkwardness or mild embarrassment, as if caught in a situation or having said something regrettable.
East Asian culture:
Similar usage, often used to convey shyness, modesty, or slight embarrassment, especially in response to compliments or unexpected situations.