Emojiology: 😳 Flushed Face
A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words. So, too, at least in the realms of texting and social media, is an emoji. Behold the wide eyes and red cheeks of 😳 Flushed Face.
In recent years, 😳 Flushed Face has made some headlines all on its own. That is, some high-profile figures have used its high eyebrows as a sole form of commentary for topics that might make some people, well, a bit flushed.
For instance, in summer 2017, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky notably tweeted a single 😳 Flushed Face in response to Anthony Scaramucci.
😳 https://t.co/c8bprBIURs
– Monica Lewinsky (@MonicaLewinsky) August 10, 2017
Scaramucci, who served briefly and controversially as Director of Communications under President Donald Trump, likened reporter Ryan Lizza to Linda Tripp, once a colleague of Lewinsky who secretly recorded phone conversations at the center of her political sex scandal with President Bill Clinton in the 1990s.
😳, indeed.
Lewinsky followed up her 2017 😳 Flushed Face with another in January 2019 during a partial shutdown of the US government, calling up the 1995 shutdown when Lewinsky and Clinton first encountered each other.
😳 https://t.co/dORI0AuH7o
– Monica Lewinsky (@MonicaLewinsky) January 14, 2019
Again, 😳.
Lewinsky’s lone blushers convey so much with so little. Shock. Surprise. A sense of ironic embarrassment and self-consciousness perfectly savvy and sharp in the internet age.
As an emoji, it seems 😳 Flushed Face isn’t just worth a thousand words — but a thousand emotions as well. In this Emojiology, no, we’re not going to break down all the political drama, but we are going to get to the bottom of the 😳 Flushed Face emoji.
🔤 Meaning
😳 Flushed Face depicts a smiley with wide eyes and red cheeks, as if blushing with embarrassment, shame, or shyness. It may also convey a wide range of other feelings to varying degrees of intensity, including surprise, disbelief, amazement, excitement, and affection.
Above: How Flushed Face displays across major platforms. Its appearance is fairly uniform. Vendors / Composite Emojipedia.
💬 Development
While entering into wide release under Unicode 6.0 in 2010, 😳 Flushed Face was already red on Japanese keyboards as early as 2000. That year, SoftBank offered a square smiley animated with a reddish-orange bar of flush spreading over its eyes and nose.
Above: SoftBank’s Flushed Face emoji in 2000 prior to Unicode standardization.
Until rolling out Experience 9.0 in 2018, Samsung featured a more crestfallen character — and, like SoftBank, it also flashed its flush over its nose. This design may seem unusual to many, especially Westerners more accustomed to illustrations of embarrassment with blushing cheeks, but it comes from a visual convention in Japanese magna and anime, which inspired some of the earliest emojis.
Above (left to right): Samsung’s Flushed Face emoji on TouchWiz 7.0 and a stylized flushed face in anime. Samsung / Imgflip / Emojipedia composite
In manga and anime, the familiar blush on character’s cheeks does communicate the emotional state of embarrassment, but it’s often stylized across the nose, as we see with Samsung’s original design. (In a previous Emojiology, we saw another such manga / anime-derived shorthand in 😪 Sleepy Face’s snot bubble, which indicates feeling tired or being asleep.)
Above (left to right): Samsung’s Flushed Face emoji on TouchWiz Nature UX 2 (2013), TouchWiz 7.1 (September 2016), and Experience 9.5 (August 2018). Samsung / Emojipedia composite
With Experience 9.0 in 2018, Samsung brought its design more in line with Apple’s, which displays wide, white eyes under raised eyebrows, a small, closed mouth, and, of course, its namesake flushed cheeks. Google similarly fashioned its 😳 Flushed Face with Android 8.0 in 2017, updated from its memorably bashful blob in Android 4.4–5.0. So did Microsoft the year before with its Windows Anniversary Update, previously featuring something of a woozier, boozier smiley under its Windows 8.0–8.1 operating systems.
Above: Evolution of 😳 Flushed Face on Android 2012—2019.
The updates from Microsoft, Google, and Samsung cemented a convergence in form for 😳 Flushed Face, reducing confusion and misunderstanding as it appears across major platforms — but not necessarily a convergence in its meaning. Its platter-sized eyes and sky-scraping eyebrows suggest astonishment, but its burning cheeks and pinched lips appear at once abashed and alarmed, flustered and fearful. This mix makes for a lively and colorful expression, and interpretations of it are many.
Above (left to right): Google’s Flushed Face emoji on Android 5.0 (2014) and Android 9.0 (2018); Microsoft’s Flushed Face emoji on Window’s 8.1 (2013) and Windows 10 October 2018 Update. Google / Microsoft / Emojipedia composite.
Reacting to LeBron James’s move to the Los Angeles Lakers in July 2018, fellow NBA player Trae Young tweeted a 😳 flushed with a kind of dismaying incredulity, for one example.
Whaaaaaaaat😳
– Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) July 2, 2018
A week later, for another example, celebrity and model Kylie Jenner Instagrammed two 😳 Flushed Face’s and a 🙂 Slightly Smiling Face when she revealed she removed her cosmetic lip fillers. Jenner’s 😳 is flushed with a vulnerable but knowing Can you believe it ?! Do you like it ?!
✅ Examples
As Young and Jenner demonstrate, 😳 Flushed Face is emotionally versatile, so let’s have a closer look at its full résumé.
True to its name, 😳 Flushed Face expresses various degrees of embarrassment or shame, often humorous or self-deprecating in tone.
Just been applying for jobs and instead of sending my cv I managed to send a selfie instead I am absolutely mortified😳
– Cameron (@Fleexing) August 19, 2018
Other strong emotions, including more positive feelings like affection, attraction, and admiration, can color a person’s cheeks pink, thus calling for 😳 Flushed Face.
My heart🥰🥰🥰🥰😳😳😭 https://t.co/si7T7thEE1
– Nika (@nikariy) January 19, 2019
Bashfulness, shyness, and coyness are very much in the expressive domain of 😳 Flushed Face.
shy shy shy 😳💘 pic.twitter.com/y2Gp8ONkys
– yuta smiling (@healingsmileyt) June 26, 2018
Thanks to its wide eyes, 😳 Flushed Face also conveys feelings of awe and disbelief, variously tinged with fear and wonder.
Watch a group of divers from @oneoceandiving swim with the largest-known great white shark in the ocean. 😳🦈 https://t.co/n3dVsn6rMz pic.twitter.com/ERxEqAJvEW
– Complex (@Complex) January 18, 2019
Miles Bridges. Oh man. 😳 pic.twitter.com/C2Rs2hP75G
– Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 18, 2019
The force of 😳 Flushed Face can also be more subtle in tone, as if issuing a nervous or excited Eep …
Submitted my first lead author scientific journal article today eep! 🤞Only been 2 years in the making 😳
– Dr Verity Longley (@VerityLongley) October 31, 2017
… And an awkward or playful Oops!
Vegan Brownies – a couple missing oops 😳 pic.twitter.com/SBaADQ2JgP
– L (@ veggiebaby1) January 14, 2019
🗒️ Usage
Whether you want to indicate something is mortifying or phenomenal, the cherry-hued chops of 😳 Flushed Face has just the expressive chops, as it were. Be mindful, however, that this range opens a lot of room for interpretation — and misinterpretation.
At smaller sizes, also take care not to confuse 😳 Flushed Face with other emojis featuring prominently raised eyebrows, such as 😲 Astonished Face and 😯 Hushed Face, though their applied meanings can overlap.
And should any misunderstandings arise with 😳 Flushed Face? Freight not. We’ve got the perfect emoji for you: 😳. Plus, it’s just emojis, folks. It’s not like it’s, oh, political intrigue or anything. 🙈
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