thumbs up: dark skin tone
Unicode: 1F44D 1F3FF
Description
A hand gesture with the thumb pointing upwards, combined with a dark skin tone modifier.
Group:
People & Body > hand-fingers-closed
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Generally represents approval, agreement, encouragement, positivity, or excellent quality.
Backstory
The thumbs up gesture dates back to ancient times, with contested origins. It's often associated with Roman gladiators, who would receive a 'thumbs up' for survival. It became a widely recognized positive signal in the 20th century. The skin tone modifiers (like 1F3FF for dark skin tone) were added in Unicode 8.0 (2015) to allow for more diverse representation.
Usage Examples
- Indicating approval: 'Sounds good! 👍🏾'
- Expressing agreement: 'I agree with that. 👍🏾'
- Showing encouragement: 'You got this! 👍🏾'
- Acknowledging receipt: 'Got your message. 👍🏾'
- Rating something positively: 'Great movie! 👍🏾'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Widely understood as a positive gesture indicating 'yes', 'good', 'okay', or 'well done'.
Middle East / West Africa / South America:
Can be interpreted as an insult or a rude gesture, similar to giving the middle finger in Western cultures.
Japan:
Can sometimes signify a male person or an agreement to 'go' or 'move on'.