folded hands: medium-dark skin tone
Unicode: 1F64F 1F3FE
Description
A person with hands pressed together in a prayer or pleading gesture, with a dark skin tone. The gesture often conveys gratitude, request, or respect.
Group:
People & Body > hands
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Typically represents gratitude, thankfulness, prayer, pleading, or showing respect. Can also be used to express admiration or a humble apology.
Backstory
This emoji was introduced in Unicode 6.0 (2010) as 'Person With Folded Hands.' The skin tone modifiers (like 1F3FE for dark skin tone) were added in Unicode 8.0 (2015), allowing for greater representation. Its origin is rooted in various cultural and religious practices involving folded hands.
Usage Examples
- Expressing gratitude: 'Thank you so much for your help! 🙏🏾'
- Making a request: 'Please, please let me go with you! 🙏🏾'
- Showing respect: 'Respect to all the frontline workers 🙏🏾'
- Prayer: 'Praying for peace 🙏🏾'
- Apology (humble): 'So sorry for the mistake 🙏🏾'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Commonly used for prayer, thanks (especially 'thank you prayer hands'), or as a 'please' or 'begging' gesture. Sometimes misinterpreted as a high-five.
East Asian culture:
Widely recognized as a 'gassho' (合掌) gesture, signifying prayer, greeting, apology, or gratitude, especially in Buddhist contexts. In Japan, it's also a common gesture for 'please' or 'thank you.'