Emoticon

//ɪˈmoʊtəˌkɑn// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A graphical representation of a particular emotion of the writer, used especially in SMS, email, or other electronic communication.; A graphic made up of text characters to represent such emotion; a smiley.

    "A remark intended humorously is often indicated by the letter G in parentheses, for "grin," or by a sideways happy face built from punctuation marks. Such symbols are known as emoticons."

  2. 2
    a representation of a facial expression (as a smile or frown) created by typing a sequence of characters in sending email wordnet
  3. 3
    A graphical representation of a particular emotion of the writer, used especially in SMS, email, or other electronic communication.; An image or graphic icon used to represent such emotions; an emoji.

    "In addition to placing emoticons by clicking icons in the pop-up panel shown in Figure 4-2, you can enter the text representation in your text chat window. For example, to show the image of the emoticon with sunglasses, you enter (cool)."

Etymology

Blend of emotion + icon. Unrelated to emoji.

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