🫱🏾
rightwards hand: medium-dark skin tone
Unicode: 1FAF1 1F3FE
Description
A person with hand over mouth, indicating surprise, shock, or a secret. The skin tone is dark.
Group:
People & Body > hand-fingers-open
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Surprise, shock, awe, discretion, or a playful 'oops' moment.
Backstory
The 'person with hand over mouth' emoji is part of the broader set of human gestures introduced to add more nuanced emotional expression to digital communication. The addition of skin tone modifiers allows for greater representation and inclusivity.
Usage Examples
- Expressing surprise: 'Did you hear the news?! 🫢'
- Keeping a secret: 'Oh, I probably shouldn't have said that... 🫢'
- Reacting to something shocking: 'I can't believe it! 🫢'
- Playful teasing or 'oops' moment: 'Caught red-handed! 🫢'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Often used to express genuine surprise or to jokingly imply a secret has been revealed or should be kept.
East Asian culture:
Can be used for similar expressions of shock or surprise, sometimes with a more nuanced meaning of discretion or awkwardness.