handshake: dark skin tone, medium-light skin tone
Unicode: 1FAF1 1F3FF 200D 1FAF2 1F3FC
Description
A person kneeling on one knee, facing right, with dark skin tone, followed by another person kneeling on one knee, facing left, with medium light skin tone. This emoji represents people kneeling together.
Group:
People & Body > hands
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Typically represents respect, prayer, protest, or homage. The specific meaning often depends on the context and the surrounding elements.
Backstory
This is a ZWJ (Zero Width Joiner) sequence combining two separate 'person kneeling' emojis (1FAF1 and 1FAF2) along with specific skin tone modifiers (1F3FF for Person Kneeling: Dark Skin Tone and 1F3FC for Person Kneeling: Medium-Light Skin Tone). The 'Person Kneeling' emoji was introduced in Unicode 12.0 (2019), and its combinations allow for diverse representations of people kneeling together.
Usage Examples
- Showing solidarity in a protest: 'We must kneel for justice. 🧎🏿♀️🧎🏽'
- Representing a couple proposing or accepting: 'He knelt and she said yes! 🧎🏿♀️🧎🏽'
- Depicting a moment of shared reflection or prayer: 'They knelt together in silence. 🧎🏿♀️🧎🏽'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Often associated with prayer (religious kneeling), proposing marriage, or taking a knee as a form of protest against injustice (e.g., in sports).
East Asian culture:
Can represent bowing in respect, repentance, or pleading. In some contexts, it can also signify traditional formal greetings.