basket
Unicode: 1F9FA
Description
It's a sponge, typically depicted as a rectangular or square block with a textured surface and usually yellow or orange in color, sometimes with visible pores. It might also feature a soap bubble or two to emphasize its cleaning purpose.
Group:
Objects > household
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Neutral. Represents an object. Implies cleanliness or domestic tasks, but conveys no emotion.
Backstory
The Sponge emoji was approved as part of Unicode 12.0 in 2019 and added to Emoji 12.0. It fills a practical gap for objects related to cleaning, hygiene, and domestic life, similar to other household item emojis.
Usage Examples
- Cleaning the house: 'Time to get scrubbing! 🧽🧹'
- Washing dishes: 'My least favorite chore 😩🧽'
- Bathing/Showering: 'Relaxing bath time 🧼🧽'
- Talking about textures: 'This cake has a really soft sponge. 🎂🧽'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Associated with household chores, cleaning, bathing, or sometimes abstract representation of textures.
East Asian culture:
Similar associations with cleaning; might also be used in contexts related to bathing or even specific types of food (e.g., sponge cake, though not the primary association of the emoji itself).