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START / NODE 308Present-Day English1997–today
emoji
An English borrowing of Japanese 絵文字, literally a picture-character compound built from 絵 e “picture” and 文字 moji “written character.”
“Emoji is not emotion plus icon. That is emoticon. Emoji is Japanese 絵 e “picture” plus 文字 moji “written character.””OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
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00Present-Day English · attestedemoji
a small image, symbol, or icon used in electronic communication
01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Present-Day Englishemoji
a small image, symbol, or icon used in electronic communication
↑GO DEEPER
Japanese · Modern Japanese絵文字picture character; pictograph
- SOUND CHANGE
- Japanese emoji was romanized and adapted to English phonology without treating its spelling as an English compound.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- Japanese “picture character” entered English as the name for the digital symbols.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster Editors · Unicode Consortium
- CONFIDENCE
- established — Both sources explicitly identify the Japanese word and its two components.
- CHRONOLOGY
- Merriam-Webster reports English use by 1997.
THE ASTERISK IS A PROMISE
RECONSTRUCTION IS
NOT INSCRIPTION.
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