alien
Unicode: 1F47D
Description
It's a monster emoji. It's usually purple or green, with two or three eyes, a wide mouth with fangs or sharp teeth, and sometimes horns or antennae. It depicts a friendly or goofy-looking alien or monster.
Group:
Smileys & Emotion > face-costume
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Typically represents something strange, quirky, humorous, playful, or fictional. It can also be used to express feeling a bit 'out there' or eccentric.
Backstory
This emoji was introduced in Unicode 6.0 (2010). It likely draws inspiration from popular depictions of friendly aliens and monsters in cartoons and media, aiming to provide a character for whimsical or unusual expressions.
Usage Examples
- Describing something quirky: 'That movie was so weird, but I loved it! 👽'
- Talking about aliens or sci-fi: 'I swear I saw a UFO last night 👽'
- Expressing playful oddness: 'I'm feeling a bit alien today 👽'
- Referring to fictional creatures: 'My favorite character is a cute little alien! 👽'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Often used to denote something 'alien,' 'weird,' 'cool,' or 'monstrous' in a playful way, sometimes associated with sci-fi or Halloween.
East Asian culture:
Can be used similarly for playful strangeness or to refer to fictional creatures, sometimes in a more cute or whimsical context similar to 'kawaii' monsters.