person shrugging: medium-light skin tone
Unicode: 1F937 1F3FC
Description
A person shrugging, with a light skin tone. This emoji depicts a human figure with raised shoulders and open palms, indicating uncertainty, indifference, or lack of knowledge.
Group:
People & Body > person-gesture
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Typically represents uncertainty, confusion, indifference, resignation, or a 'I don't know' attitude. It can also convey a sense of helplessness or being unable to answer.
Backstory
The shrugging gesture is a universal non-verbal cue that has existed for centuries. The emoji was introduced in Unicode 9.0 (2016), bringing this common human expression into digital communication. The skin tone modifier (1F3FC) allows for customization based on user preference, introduced in Unicode 8.0 (2015).
Usage Examples
- When asked a question you don't know the answer to: 'Where did I leave my keys? 🤷🏼♀️'
- Expressing indifference: 'Dinner plans? 🤷🏼♂️ I'm easy.'
- Conveying resignation: 'Missed my flight, again. 🤷🏼♀️'
- Responding to a rhetorical question: 'Why does this always happen to me? 🤷🏼♀️'
- Showing confusion: 'What are you talking about? 🤷🏼♂️'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Commonly used to express 'I don't know', 'what can you do?', or 'it is what it is'. Often accompanied by textual phrases like '¯\_(ツ)_/¯'.
East Asian culture:
Similar usage to Western culture, conveying uncertainty or a passive acceptance of a situation. Less formally used than in some Western contexts.