palm up hand: medium-dark skin tone
Unicode: 1FAF4 1F3FE
Description
A person with hand over mouth, often used to express surprise, shock, or a secret.
Group:
People & Body > hand-fingers-open
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Typically represents shock, surprise, disbelief, secret-telling, or a sense of 'oops' or 'oh my gosh'. The 'type-4' skin tone indicates a medium-dark skin color.
Backstory
The 'Person With Hand Over Mouth' emoji was approved as part of Unicode 14.0 in 2021. The addition of skin tone modifiers allows for more diverse representation. This gesture is globally recognized for indicating surprise or concealing something.
Usage Examples
- Expressing surprise: 'Did you see that?! 🫣🏾'
- Revealing a secret: 'Guess what I heard... 🫣🏾'
- Feeling awkward/embarrassed: 'Oh no, I totally forgot! 🫣🏾'
- Reacting to shocking news: 'No way! 🫣🏾'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Commonly used to convey surprise or awkwardness, or to signify someone is sharing a secret or reacting to a revelation.
East Asian culture:
May be used similarly, or with a slightly more emphasis on 'shh!' or keeping a secret, or sometimes embarrassment.