☝🏾
index pointing up: medium-dark skin tone
Unicode: 261D 1F3FE
Description
A pointing upwards index finger, indicating direction or approval, with a light brown skin tone.
Group:
People & Body > hand-single-finger
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Can convey agreement, direction, emphasis, permission, or a general 'up' or 'this way' indication.
Backstory
The 'White Up Pointing Index' (261D) was introduced in Unicode 1.1 (1993). The skin tone modifier (1F3FE) was added much later in Unicode 8.0 (2015) as part of an effort to introduce more diverse skin tones to various human-representing emojis.
Usage Examples
- Confirming: 'Got it! ☝🏾'
- Directing: 'The answer is up there ☝🏾'
- Emphasizing: 'This is the most important part ☝🏾'
- Agreeing: 'Exactly! ☝🏾'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Often used for 'okay', 'good job', agreement, or literally pointing in a direction.
East Asian culture:
Similar usage to Western culture, but context is key to avoid misinterpretation, especially in more formal settings.