wastebasket
Unicode: 1F5D1 FE0F
Description
A grayscale open-top receptacle, typically square or rectangular, with a small lid or opening. It is a universal symbol for discarding trash or deleting items.
Group:
Objects > office
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Neutral or functional, conveying the act of disposal, deletion, or discarding. Can sometimes carry a negative connotation of something being useless or unwanted when used metaphorically.
Backstory
The trash can emoji, represented by U+1F5D1 (WASTEBASKET) with the variation selector U+FE0F (EMOJI VARIATION SELECTOR-16), was introduced in Unicode 7.0 in 2014. Its design is based on common office wastebaskets, and it quickly became a standard icon for deleting or moving items to 'trash' in digital user interfaces.
Usage Examples
- To indicate deleting a file: 'Move this to 🗑️?'
- To suggest discarding something: 'Let's just throw it in the 🗑️.'
- To symbolize something being 'trashed' or rejected: 'My idea got sent to the 🗑️.'
- On social media when discussing unfollowing or deactivating accounts: 'Time to put that account in the 🗑️.'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Widely recognized as a trash can or rubbish bin, used for physical waste or digital deletion.
East Asian culture:
Similar recognition as a receptacle for waste or a delete function in digital interfaces.