Cultural Differences in Emoji Interpretation

Emoji are not a universal language

Emoji are widely used as a communication tool that transcends language barriers. Yet when the sender and recipient come from different cultural backgrounds, the same emoji can be read in entirely different ways.

In 2016, Hannah Miller and colleagues at the University of Minnesota surveyed 334 participants on how they perceived emoji rendered across five platforms: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and LG (ICWSM 2016). When emoji were sent between different platforms, the average gap in sentiment ratings reached roughly 2 points on a scale from -5 to +5. Nine of the 22 emoji studied showed a sentiment gap of 2 points or more between platforms, and even when participants viewed the same emoji image, their readings diverged in about 25% of cases on whether the emotion was positive, negative, or neutral.

For example, "grinning face with smiling eyes" looked almost like a grimace on Apple, while Google and Samsung rendered it as a clearly cheerful face. At least 25% of participants in the study did not know that emoji they sent might appear differently on the recipient's device.

But even when the image looks the same, differences in interpretation tied to culture and region cannot be solved by standardizing platforms.

The pitfalls of gesture emoji

The cultural meanings attached to real-world gestures carry over directly into emoji. In cross-border communication, a casually chosen gesture emoji can lead to unexpected misunderstandings.

👍 Thumbs up

In Western cultures, this is a go-to gesture for "good" or "OK." In parts of the Middle East, including Iran and Iraq, it can be taken as an insult. The same applies in parts of West Africa. That said, globalization and the spread of social media are gradually shifting these traditional interpretations.

The split extends into digital communication as well. In 2022, a debate on Reddit and social media highlighted how younger English-speaking users perceive 👍 as "curt" or "passive-aggressive" -- carrying the same coldness as replying with just "OK" in a text message. The generational gap in how this emoji is received became hard to ignore.

👌 OK sign

In the United States, this means "OK" or "no problem." In Brazil, it is considered an insult. In Japan, the shape suggests "money" and is used in conversations about finances. In France and Tunisia, the O shape means "zero," implying "worthless" or "insignificant." In American Sign Language (ASL), it represents the number 9. Few gestures carry this many meanings across cultures.

🙏 Folded hands

In Japan, this is widely used as a gesture of gratitude or supplication -- the "gassho" gesture for "please" or "thank you." In Western Christian contexts, it is commonly read as "prayer." In Hindu culture it represents "namaste," and in Buddhist traditions it is a gesture of reverence.

A popular misconception holds that this emoji depicts a high-five. Emojipedia's emoji researchers have rejected this interpretation, confirming that the design depicts a single person with palms pressed together.

Cultural gaps in face emoji

🙂 When a smile means sarcasm

Among younger users in China, 🙂 (slightly smiling face) is read not as friendly but as sarcastic or passive-aggressive.

A study by Jing Cui at Xiamen University, "Respecting the Old and Loving the Young: Emoji-Based Sarcasm Interpretation Between Younger and Older Adults" (2022, Frontiers in Psychology), tested participants aged 18-30 and 40-58. Younger participants read sarcasm into the slightly smiling emoji, while older participants took it at face value as a sign of happiness. The sarcastic reading was especially strong when the sender was a young person the recipient did not know well.

Kun Yang and Shuang Qian's "Your Smiling Face is Impolite to Me" (Social Science Computer Review, 2024) and a Heliyon study of WeChat users (2024) reported similar findings. Simplified Chinese users (mainland China) showed a stronger tendency toward sarcastic interpretation than Traditional Chinese users (Taiwan), indicating that both region and generation shape how emoji are received.

Is a smile friendly or sarcastic? Without knowing the other person's age group and cultural background, there is no way to tell.

😂 and 💀 -- Generational divides in expressing laughter

😂 (face with tears of joy) was long the go-to emoji for laughter. In Unicode Consortium's 2021 data, 😂 ranked as the world's most-used emoji, accounting for over 5% of all emoji sent.

Among Gen Z, however, 😂 is considered "outdated" or "uncool." Instead, 💀 (skull) is used to mean "I'm dying laughing" -- derived from the English slang "I'm dead." For older generations, the skull emoji evokes risk or danger, meaning the same emoji is used in opposite contexts depending on the sender's age.

A 2024 paper on ResearchGate reported that the skull emoji functions not only as a marker of humor or awkwardness but also as a form of "improvised punctuation" that breaks up text. The way emoji meanings drift from their original design intent and take on new uses within communities mirrors how words change meaning in natural language.

Adobe's 2022 emoji usage survey (over 1,000 US respondents) found that 88% of Gen Z considered emoji useful, compared to just 49% of Gen X and Baby Boomers. In the same survey, 81% of Americans said they had been confused by how someone else used emoji.

👏 The two sides of clapping

On its own, the clapping emoji conveys praise or congratulations. On English-language social media, however, it has also become common to insert it between words for emphasis (e.g., "You 👏 need 👏 to 👏 stop"). This usage originated in African American communities, where clapping on each syllable serves as a verbal emphasis technique. It spread widely online around 2016. Depending on context, it can come across as condescending or aggressive.

Double meanings in food emoji

🍆 (eggplant) and 🍑 (peach) are widely recognized as sexual innuendo in English-speaking countries. In 2019, Facebook and Instagram moved to restrict these emoji when combined with sexual content.

In Japan, the eggplant is a symbol of good fortune. It appears in the traditional saying "Ichi Fuji, Ni Taka, San Nasubi" (First Mount Fuji, second a hawk, third an eggplant) -- referring to auspicious things to dream of on New Year's. The word "nasu" (eggplant) sounds like "nasu" (to achieve), connecting it to success. Peaches, too, symbolize longevity and prosperity in Japan and China. The folk tale of Momotaro (Peach Boy) is one of the best-known examples of the peach's protective symbolism.

In India, Turkey, and Mediterranean countries, 🍆 is simply an eggplant -- used in messages about cooking and grocery shopping.

The same emoji reads as a crude innuendo in one culture, a traditional symbol of good fortune in another, and a plain vegetable in a third. Without knowing the sender's cultural background, unintended misreadings are hard to avoid.

East-West emoji usage patterns

In 2019, Sharath Chandra Guntuku and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania used machine learning to compare emoji usage patterns on social media between East Asia (China and Japan) and the West (the US, Canada, and the UK) (ICWSM 2019).

The results were surprising. Similarities between East and West far outweighed the differences. Both cultural spheres used face emoji most frequently, and topics like death, anger, money, and family produced similar emoji choices. The findings suggest that basic emotional expression has a large common core across cultures.

There were some differences, though. Topics related to time, friends, and work produced different emoji selections between East and West. The gap was particularly notable for health-related topics: Western users favored negative face emoji, while East Asian users chose medical object emoji like pills and syringes.

Unicode Consortium's official data also reveals regional variation. In Japan, ✨ (sparkles) is one of the most-used emoji, while 😂 is the most popular in 75 countries. The top 100 emoji account for 82% of all emoji usage, but even within that set, preferences differ from country to country.

Considerations for business communication

In international teams and client interactions, emoji can create unexpected friction. A 👍 sent as casual confirmation can strike the recipient as rude. A 😊 meant to convey warmth can be read as sarcasm.

The basic countermeasure is to avoid letting emoji carry the message on their own. Writing "Understood" in text eliminates any ambiguity around 👍. If the text still makes sense with the emoji removed, the emoji is decorative and low-risk. If removing the emoji changes the meaning, that is where cultural risk lurks.

Knowing in advance how a particular emoji is received in your colleagues' or clients' cultural context goes a long way toward avoiding unnecessary friction. When in doubt, not using emoji is the safest choice.

Conclusion

Emoji are a convenient way to add emotion to messages, but there is no guarantee that the meaning the sender intended will arrive intact. 👍 can be read as an insult, 🙂 as sarcasm, 🍆 as something entirely unintended. Without awareness of the recipient's cultural background, a well-meaning emoji can become a source of misunderstanding.

Pausing to ask "How will this emoji look to the other person?" is enough to prevent many avoidable miscommunications.

The content of this article is based on general tendencies and does not apply to every individual. Emoji interpretation varies within the same country or cultural sphere depending on age, personal experience, and the communities people belong to.