love-you gesture: medium-dark skin tone
Unicode: 1F91F 1F3FE
Description
A hand with spread fingers, thumb and little finger extended outwards, creating a gesture known as 'I love you' in American Sign Language (ASL), with a dark skin tone modifier.
Group:
People & Body > hand-fingers-partial
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
This emoji primarily conveys love, affection, and positive sentiment. It's often used to express 'I love you' in a direct, warm, and supportive way.
Backstory
The 'I Love You' hand sign emoji (1F91F) was introduced in Unicode 10.0 in 2017. It directly represents the American Sign Language gesture for 'I love you', which combines the signs for 'I', 'L', and 'Y'. The skin tone modifier (1F3FE) allows users to customize the emoji's appearance.
Usage Examples
- Expressing love to family/friends: 'So glad we're doing this together! ily 🤘🏾'
- Showing support: 'Thinking of you! 🤘🏾'
- Ending a message with affection: 'Talk soon! 🤘🏾'
- Cheering someone on: 'You got this! 🤘🏾'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Widely recognized and understood as the ASL sign for 'I love you'. Often used in informal contexts and by people of all ages.
East Asian culture:
While the ASL meaning is understood, it might also be confused with other hand gestures depending on the specific region. For example, in some contexts, a similar but distinct gesture might be associated with rock music ('horns').