handshake: medium-dark skin tone
Unicode: 1F91D 1F3FE
Description
Two hands shaking, one light-skinned and one dark-skinned, indicating a handshake.
Group:
People & Body > hands
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Typically represents a greeting, agreement, deal, or reconciliation. It conveys a sense of unity, cooperation, or negotiation.
Backstory
The handshake emoji (🤝) was introduced in Unicode 9.0 (2016). The skin tone modifiers (like 1F3FE for dark skin) were added later, allowing users to customize the emoji to better represent diversity and inclusivity in digital communication.
Usage Examples
- Greeting someone: 'Nice to meet you! 🤝'
- Confirming an agreement: 'It's a deal! 🤝'
- Celebrating a partnership: 'Great teamwork! 🤝'
- Reconciling after a disagreement: 'Let's put it behind us. 🤝'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
A common gesture for greeting, expressing agreement, congratulations, or sealing a deal. Often firm and direct.
East Asian culture:
Less common as a primary greeting, often replaced by bowing. When used, it might be a softer shake. Increasingly common in business contexts due to globalization.