middle finger: dark skin tone
Unicode: 1F595 1F3FF
Description
A hand with thumbs and pinky fingers extended, forming the 'I love you' sign in American Sign Language, with a dark skin tone.
Group:
People & Body > hand-single-finger
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Represents love, affection, friendship, or a general positive sentiment. It's often used to express 'I love you' in a more general or playful context than a heart emoji.
Backstory
This emoji (the default yellow version 1F595) was introduced in Unicode 8.0 (2015), representing the 'I love you' hand sign from American Sign Language. The skin tone modifier (1F3FF for dark skin tone) was added with Unicode 8.0 as well, allowing for variations in skin color.
Usage Examples
- Expressing love or affection: 'Sending you all my love! 🤟🏿'
- Showing support for a friend: 'You got this! 🤟🏿'
- Reacting to something positive: 'That's awesome! 🤟🏿'
- In ASL context: 'I love you, friend. 🤟🏿'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Widely recognized as the 'I love you' sign, particularly stemming from American Sign Language (ASL).
East Asian culture:
Less commonly understood as 'I love you' and might be mistaken for other hand gestures or simply seen as a playful 'rock on' sign, especially in Japan where 'rock on' involves the index, middle, and ring fingers being down.
Mediterranean/Latin American culture:
In some contexts (e.g., Italy, Spain, Brazil), a similar gesture with only the index and pinky extended (devil horns) can have negative connotations, but the addition of the thumb in the 'I love you' sign clearly differentiates it.