emoji
/ɪˈmoʊ.dʒi/
Japanese Origin
Technology
Original Word
絵文字
Kanji (emoji)
Entered English
2000s
First recorded usage in English
The Story Behind "emoji"
From Japanese 'emoji' (絵文字), from 'e' (picture) + 'moji' (character). Created by Shigetaka Kurita in 1999 for Japanese mobile phones. Adopted into Unicode and became a global communication phenomenon.
Example Usage
"She ended her message with a smiley face emoji."