face with rolling eyes
Unicode: 1F644
Description
A yellow circular face with wide, open eyes, often depicted as eyeballs popping out or looking dramatically bug-eyed. Its mouth is usually a small, straight line or slightly open, not expressing a specific emotion directly through the mouth, but rather through the exaggerated eyes.
Group:
Smileys & Emotion > face-neutral-skeptical
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Commonly represents disbelief, shock, surprise, astonishment, or seeing something unbelievable. It can also imply being flabbergasted, dumbfounded, or caught off guard.
Backstory
This emoji was introduced in Unicode 6.0 (2010) as part of the initial set of emojis. Its design likely draws from traditional cartoon depictions of extreme surprise, where characters' eyes would comically bulge out of their heads.
Usage Examples
- Reacting to surprising news: 'They won the lottery? personally! 😲'
- Expressing disbelief: 'You finished the whole cake? 😲'
- Seeing something unexpected: 'Look at that car! 😲'
- Feeling overwhelmed: 'My to-do list is so long! 😲'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Frequently used to express being 'shook' or incredibly surprised by something, often in a humorous or exaggerated way.
East Asian culture:
Similar usage to Western culture, often used to signify exaggerated surprise or 'I can't believe it' moments, particularly in reaction to unexpected news or events.