person: medium skin tone
Unicode: 1F9D1 1F3FD
Description
A person emoji with medium skin tone, representing a generic human figure. This emoji is part of a sequence that allows for skin tone modification.
Group:
People & Body > person
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Neutral, as it represents a generic person. Its emotional context is derived from the surrounding text or other modifying emojis. When combined with other elements (e.g., professions, activities), it signifies the person performing that action or role.
Backstory
The base 'Person' emoji (1F9D1) was introduced with Unicode 10.0 in 2017 to provide a more gender-neutral and inclusive alternative to previous gendered emojis. The medium skin tone modifier (1F3FD) is part of a larger set of skin tone modifiers (Fitzpatrick scale) introduced in Unicode 8.0 (2015) to allow users to customize the skin color of human-like emojis, promoting diversity and representation. When combined, they form a single emoji representing a person with a medium skin tone.
Usage Examples
- As a standalone placeholder: 'Looking for a new team member 👨🏽🦱'
- In combination with activity: 'Guess who's going running? 🏃🏽♀️'
- Representing a diverse group: 'Our diverse team! 👩🏻🤝👨🏼'
- Used to refer to oneself: 'I'm just a person trying to make a difference 🧑🏽'.
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Frequently used as a placeholder for a generic individual, or as a base for specific professions/roles (e.g., 'person surfing', 'person climbing').
East Asian culture:
Similar usage to Western culture, often serving as a foundation for more specific character representations or activities. The skin tone variation is widely accepted and used.
Global:
The skin tone modifier (1F3FD) is universally understood as representing a medium skin tone, contributing to inclusivity in digital representation.