woman facepalming: medium-light skin tone
Unicode: 1F926 1F3FC 200D 2640
Description
A person with one hand covering their face, indicating embarrassment, shame, or dismay. This specific variant features a woman with dark skin.
Group:
People & Body > person-gesture
Status:
minimally-qualified
Emotion:
Typically expresses feelings of embarrassment, shame, dismay, frustration, or a 'facepalm' moment. It can also convey disbelief or being overwhelmed.
Backstory
This emoji was introduced in Unicode 9.0 (2016) as part of a larger set of gestures and human activities. The 'facepalm' gesture itself is widely recognized as a non-verbal sign of exasperation or disappointment. The skin tone and gender variants were added to provide more inclusivity and representation.
Usage Examples
- Reacting to an obvious mistake: 'Someone just asked if the Earth is flat. 🤦♀️'
- Expressing embarrassment for someone else: 'They just called their boss by the wrong name. 🤦♀️'
- Showing dismay at a situation: 'The flight is delayed again. 🤦♀️'
- Conveying 'I can't believe this': 'Did they really just say that? 🤦♀️'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Widely understood as a 'facepalm' gesture, signifying disbelief, exasperation, or self-reproach for a mistake. Can also be used to show awkwardness.
East Asian culture:
Similar to Western understanding, often used to express embarrassment or frustration with someone else's actions or a situation. Can also convey a feeling of 'cringe'.