raised back of hand: medium-light skin tone
Unicode: 1F91A 1F3FC
Description
An open hand with fingers and thumb extended, facing left, with a light skin tone. It represents the back of the hand.
Group:
People & Body > hand-fingers-open
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Neutral, as it primarily depicts a physical gesture rather than an emotion. It can be used in various contexts to indicate directions, waving good-bye, or showing an open hand.
Backstory
The 🖐️ (hand with fingers splayed) emoji was introduced in Unicode 6.0 (2010), representing a generic open hand. The skin tone modifiers (like 🏻, 🏼, 🏽, 🏾, 🏿) were added in Unicode 8.0 (2015), allowing users to personalize the emoji to match various skin tones. This particular combination (1F91A 1F3FC) uses the original hand emoji with the light skin tone modifier.
Usage Examples
- Waving goodbye: 'See you later! 👋🏽'
- Indicating 'stop': '🖐️ Stop right there!'
- Showing an open hand for emphasis: 'I mean, seriously! 🖐️'
- Asking for a high-five, though usually with different orientation: 'Give me five! 🖐️ (less common for high-five but possible depending on context)'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Often used for waving hello/goodbye, stopping, or showing an open palm for 'talk to the hand' or 'stop'.
East Asian culture:
Can be used in similar ways, though specific hand gestures might carry different connotations, and cultural norms dictate how openly hands are displayed.
Middle Eastern culture:
May be perceived as a defensive or stopping gesture, similar to 'the hamsa' hand, warding off evil.