open hands: medium skin tone
Unicode: 1F450 1F3FD
Description
An open hand, depicting the back of the hand, with a medium skin tone. Fingers are spread slightly, and the palm is facing away from the viewer.
Group:
People & Body > hands
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Generally conveys openness, welcome, or a request for something. Can also be used to show a 'stop' gesture or 'talk to the hand.' The medium skin tone variant specifies the Fitzpatrick scale Type IV.
Backstory
The 🖐️ (raised hand with fingers splayed) emoji was introduced in Unicode 6.0 (2010), representing a more general 'stop' or 'high five'. The ✋ (raised hand) came earlier in Unicode 6.0. The 'open hands' (👐) came with Unicode 6.0. The skin tone modifiers (like 🏻, 🏼, 🏽, 🏾, 🏿) were added in Unicode 8.0 (2015), allowing users to specify the ethnicity of the hand emoji, including 1F450 1F3FD for the medium skin tone.
Usage Examples
- Asking for something: 'Can you please give me a hand? 🖐🏽'
- Signaling 'stop': 'Stop right there! 🖐🏽'
- Waving in greeting (less common than 👋): 'Hi! 🖐🏽'
- Expressing 'talk to the hand': 'Don't even start. 🖐🏽'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Often used for 'high-five' (though 🖐️ is more common), 'stop', or 'talk to the hand'. In some contexts, it can express 'please give me'.
East Asian culture:
Can be used similarly to 'stop' or 'come here' (with a specific wrist rotation), but context is crucial. Less common for 'please give me' compared to European cultures.
Middle East/Mediterranean:
A similar gesture with the palm facing towards the other person (mano cornuta variation) can be offensive, so context and orientation are key. The open hand with palm away is less likely to be offensive.