GRAPH-WIDE SEARCH
MEASURE THE GRAPH ↗NOT JUST A DICTIONARY LOOKUP
6 EVIDENCE COLLECTIONSSEARCH
THE GRAPH.
Find a modern word—or search sideways through reconstructed roots, historical forms, meanings, languages, scholars, sources, claims, disputes, and witnesses.
MODERN ENTRY POINTS
WORD DOSSIERS
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.”
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗emoticon
A keyboard-character sequence depicting a facial expression, posture, emotion, or attitude; an English compound of emotion and icon.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗ATTESTED / RECONSTRUCTED / BOUNDARY
HISTORICAL FORMS
WHERE INTERPRETATION IS TESTED
CLAIMS & DISPUTES
SCHOLARLY DISPUTES / 2
Is emoji formed from emotion plus icon?
No. Unicode and Merriam-Webster identify Japanese 絵 e “picture” plus 文字 moji “written character.” Emotion plus icon is the distinct English formation emoticon.
Is emoticon another name or etymology for emoji?
No. Emoticon is English emotion plus icon. Emoji is Japanese e “picture” plus moji “character.” They can depict overlapping things without sharing a word formation.
CONTRARIAN TRUTHS / 2
It has nothing to do with emotion.
Emoji is Japanese 絵 e “picture” plus 文字 moji “written character.” Emotion plus icon produced the separate word emoticon.
Only one of emoticon and emoji contains emotion.
Emoticon is English emotion plus icon. Emoji is Japanese picture plus character: conceptual neighbors, unrelated formations.
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SOURCES
FIRST USES & HISTORICAL OBJECTS
ATTESTATION WITNESSES
SEARCH IS DISCOVERY, NOT PROOF
EVERY RESULT OPENS A PERMANENT EVIDENCE RECORD.
Matching text only locates a record. It does not raise confidence, settle a dispute, establish cognacy, or turn a source report into direct inspection. Follow the result into its citations and editorial limits.