grinning cat with smiling eyes
Unicode: 1F638
Description
A yellow cartoon cat face with a wide open mouth and teeth, often depicted with a cheerful or surprised expression, sometimes showing a slight blush.
Group:
Smileys & Emotion > cat-face
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Typically represents happiness, amusement, excitement, or a broad, toothy smile. Can also convey surprise or shock due to its wide-open mouth.
Backstory
This emoji was introduced in Unicode 6.0 (2010) as part of a set of cat face emojis, which were popular additions for digital communication. The cat emojis provide an alternative to human facial expressions, often used when a more playful or cute tone is desired.
Usage Examples
- Expressing joy: 'Just got the good news! 😺'
- Amusement at something funny: 'That joke was hilarious! 😺'
- Greeting someone cheerfully: 'Good morning! Hope you have a great day! 😺'
- Acknowledging a cute animal: 'Look at this little kitten! 😺'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Often used as a playful or warm expression of joy, similar to a wide human smile. Less common than human smiling faces in everyday use but still understood.
East Asian culture:
Cats are generally popular, and this emoji can be seen as a cute and playful way to express happiness or slight amusement, sometimes with an added touch of charm.
General:
As a cat face, it inherently carries a sense of cuteness or whimsy compared to human face emojis.