What is the Difference Between Emoticon and Emoji

The main difference between emoticon and emoji is that emoticon is a facial representation that’s made up of characters you can find on your keyboard, while emoji is a small graphical image that can be inserted in a message without the use of keyboard characters.

In this day and age of social media and digital communication, most of you use emoticons and emojis in emails and messages. But did you know that emoticons and emojis are two different things?

Key Areas Covered

1. What is an Emoticon 
     – Definition, Features
2. What is an Emoji
     – Definition, Features
3. Difference Between Emoticon and Emoji
     – Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms

Emoticon, Emoji

What is an Emoticon

An emoticon is a face or a representation of a face that’s made up of keyboard characters. They can convey the sender’s mood, reaction and intended tone. You can observe basic facial expressions like frown, smile, and wink via emoticons. We usually create emoticons using letters, numbers, and punctuation marks.

Examples of Emoticons

😉        Smile with a wink

😀      Big grin

🙁        Sad

😮       Wow!

😐         Grim

😛       Sticking out your tongue

The word emoticon is a combination of the two words emotion and icon. Emoticons were first introduced in the 80s, but they gained popularity in the late 1990s, with the widespread use of emails, text message, and internet forums. In fact, these early emoticons were the precursors to modern emojis.

There are various styles of emoticons. The main two styles are Western and Japanese kaomoji. In the Western-style, emoticons are at a right angle to the direction of the text, so the reader has to sometimes tilt his head to read and understand it. But you can understand kaomoji without tilting the head.

What is an Emoji

An emoji is a small graphical image that expresses an idea or emotion. It can show anything from a facial expression to food to buildings and flags. We can also describe them as pictographs of faces, objects, and symbols. There are thousands of emojis, and new emojis appear on smartphones every year. The word emoji comes from the Japanese language and basically means picture-character. Unlike emoticons, emojis are free from letters, numbers and punctuation. To use an emoji, all you have to do is click on the emoji you want and press the enter button. But we can describe them as an advanced version of emoticons. Like emoticons, emojis can also express a mood or an emotion.

Emojis are first made using a drawing tool; then, they are incorporated into a unique 16-bit Unicode to make them compatible with operating systems of common devices like Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows.

Difference Between Emoticon and Emoji

Definition

An emoticon is a face or a representation of a face we make from keyboard characters, while an emoji is a small graphical image of a face, object or symbol, which expresses an idea or emotion.

Keyboard Characters

Emoticons are made using keyboard character, i.e., letters, numbers, and punctuation marks, while emojis are inserted in a message without the use of keyboard characters.

History

Emoticons were the precursors to modern emojis, and we can describe emojis as an advanced version of emoticons.

Conclusion

The main difference between emoticon and emoji is that emoticon is a facial representation you make from characters you can find on your keyboard, while emoji is a small graphical image we can insert in a message without the use of keyboard characters.

Reference:

1. “Emoticon Smile Face” By IkamusumeFan – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Some Emojis which are used in WhatsApp” By Pixaline –  (CC0) via Commons Wikimedia

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