🎂
birthday cake
Unicode: 1F382
Description
A cake with candles, typically depicted as a slice or a whole cake with lit candles on top, often frosted.
Group:
Food & Drink > food-sweet
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Typically represents celebration, birthdays, anniversaries, joy, special occasions, and festive events.
Backstory
This emoji was introduced in Unicode 6.0 (2010). Cake has been a central part of celebrations, particularly birthdays, for centuries across many cultures. The emoji captures this universal symbol of festivity.
Usage Examples
- Wishing someone a happy birthday: 'Happy Birthday! 🎂'
- Celebrating an anniversary: 'Happy 5th Anniversary! 🎂🥂'
- Announcing a special event: 'Guess what? It's my party tonight! 🎂🎉'
- Expressing joy over a milestone: 'We reached our goal! Let's celebrate! 🎂'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Strongly associated with birthday celebrations and other personal milestones.
East Asian culture:
Also used for celebrations, but sometimes specific types of cake or desserts might be more prominent depending on the specific occasion.