left-facing fist: medium-light skin tone
Unicode: 1F91B 1F3FC
Description
A yellow hand with the thumb and index finger extended, forming a gesture often associated with calling someone. The hand has a medium-light skin tone.
Group:
People & Body > hand-fingers-closed
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Neutral, or indicating a desire to communicate (e.g., 'call me', 'talk to me', 'hook me up').
Backstory
The 'Call Me Hand' emoji was approved as part of Unicode 9.0 in 2016 and added to Emoji 3.0. It visually represents the universal gesture for 'call me' or making a phone call, with the thumb near the ear and pinky near the mouth. The skin tone variations were added later to represent diversity.
Usage Examples
- Indicating a phone call: 'I'll call you later! 🤙🏼'
- Suggesting communication: 'Let's chat. 🤙🏼'
- After an event, suggesting a 'hook up': 'Great party, let's do it again! 🤙🏼'
- In surfing or casual contexts (as 'shaka'): 'Hang loose! 🤙🏼'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Commonly understood as 'call me' (phone gesture). Less commonly, it can also imitate a 'hang loose' or 'shaka' gesture, particularly among surfers or in Hawaiian culture, though the specific thumb/pinky only 'shaka' is more common.
East Asian culture:
Can also mean 'call me'. In some contexts, particularly amongst younger generations, it might be used playfully or as a 'hangout' invitation, similar to the 'shaka' sign, depending on specific regional nuances.
Mediterranean/Latin American cultures:
Can be mistaken for or used similarly to the 'Corna' (horn) gesture, which has varying meanings from warding off evil to an insult, but the thumb extended makes it distinctly different from the traditional 'corna'. The 'call me' meaning is also widely understood.
Brazil/Portugal:
Widely recognized as the 'call me' gesture.