smiling face with horns
Unicode: 1F608
Description
A purple, smiling face with two horns, typically depicted with a mischievous or playful expression. It's often associated with evil or devilish qualities but can also be used in a lighthearted, cheeky manner.
Group:
Smileys & Emotion > face-negative
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Represents mischievousness, devilishness, playful naughtiness, or sometimes actual malice/evil. Can also convey a sense of 'bad' in a good way, like 'so good it's bad.'
Backstory
The Smiling Face With Horns emoji was approved as part of Unicode 6.0 in 2010 and added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015. It draws from the archetypal image of a devil, often used to signify temptation, mischief, or wickedness in various cultural narratives.
Usage Examples
- Being playfully mischievous: 'I just pulled a prank on my brother 😈'
- Indicating a naughty thought: 'I'm thinking of skipping work tomorrow 😈'
- Describing something 'devilishly good': 'This chocolate cake is so good it's evil 😈'
- Teasing or joking: 'You're such a devil, aren't you? 😈'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Commonly used to imply mischief, playful rudeness, or to suggest something is 'devilishly good.' Can also be used to represent literal evil.
East Asian culture:
Similar usage, often for playful teasing, indicating a naughty thought, or humorously 'being a devil' in a light-hearted context rather than actual evil.