palms up together: medium skin tone
Unicode: 1F932 1F3FD
Description
An emoji depicting an older person, likely a woman, with a hand over their mouth, indicating a gesture of surprise or discretion. The skin tone is medium.
Group:
People & Body > hands
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Can represent surprise, shock, discretion, 'oops', or a secret being kept. Depending on context, it might also convey 'I can't believe it' or holding back laughter/words.
Backstory
This emoji, along with other 'person with hand over mouth' variations, was introduced in Unicode 10.0 (2017) and added to Emoji 5.0. It aims to represent a common human gesture for a range of subtle emotions related to communication and discretion. The addition of different skin tones (like 1F3FD for medium skin tone) followed the trend of promoting diversity and inclusivity in emoji representation.
Usage Examples
- Expressing surprise: 'Did you hear what happened? 🤫'
- Keeping a secret: 'This is just between us 🤫'
- Reacting to shocking news: 'No way! 🤫'
- Holding back words/laughter: 'I almost said something I shouldn't have 🤫'
- Gossip: 'You won't believe what I heard 🤫'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Often used for expressions of surprise, gossip, or playful discretion. Can also be used to imply 'spill the tea'.
East Asian culture:
May be used similarly for surprise or embarrassment, sometimes in a more understated or polite manner than overt expressions. Can also signify 'don't tell anyone'.
Global usage:
Universally understood as a gesture related to speech, discretion, or surprising revelation.