🦠

microbe

Unicode: 1F9A0

Description

A brown, circular, single-celled organism emoji commonly known as a bacterium or microbe. It features a cell body with a few hair-like cilia or flagella extending from its surface, indicating movement.

Group:

Animals & Nature > animal-bug

Status:

fully-qualified

Emotion:

Neutral, scientific, or sometimes associated with illness or infection, though its primary use is for biological or health-related contexts.

Backstory

This emoji was introduced in Unicode 12.0 (2019) as part of a set of emojis to represent various scientific, medical, and biological concepts. It's designed to broadly represent a bacterium or microbe.

Usage Examples

  • Discussing biology or microbiology: 'Studying different types of bacteria in class today 🦠'
  • Referring to germs or hygiene: 'Wash your hands to get rid of the 🦠'
  • Talking about health or illness: 'Trying to fight off an infection 🦠'
  • In a scientific context: 'Researchers discovered a new species of 🦠'

Cultural Differences

Western culture:

Primarily associated with science, biology, health, disease, hygiene, or sometimes used humorously for 'germs'.

East Asian culture:

Similar associations with science, health, and disease; can also be used in contexts related to fermentation or specific biological processes.