waving hand
Unicode: 1F44B
Description
A yellow hand waving, with all fingers extended and the palm facing forward. It is typically depicted with a slightly curved or flat hand.
Group:
People & Body > hand-fingers-open
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Commonly used to express greeting, farewell, or acknowledging someone's presence. It can convey friendliness, informality, or a simple hello/goodbye.
Backstory
This emoji was introduced in Unicode 6.0 (2010). The gesture itself is ancient, used across cultures for centuries to signal approach, greeting, or departure. Its digital form captures this simple, universal human interaction.
Usage Examples
- Greeting someone: 'Hey there! 👋'
- Saying goodbye: 'See you later! 👋'
- Acknowledging someone: 'Got your message! 👋'
- Waving at a distance: 'Over here! 👋'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Universally understood as a greeting or farewell. Can also be used to get attention or acknowledge someone from a distance.
East Asian culture:
Similar usage for greeting and farewell. In some contexts, a more formal bow might be preferred over a wave in person, but digitally, the emoji is common.
Global:
One of the most universally recognized gestures for hello and goodbye across many cultures.