How do you pronounce “kaomoji”?

Kah-oh-moh-jee. It’s a Japanese word, 顔文字, combining 顔 (kao, “face”) and 文字 (moji, “character”) — literally “face characters”.

What’s the difference between kaomoji and emoji?

Emoji are single pictographic characters (😀) defined by the Unicode standard and drawn by your device. Kaomoji are built from ordinary text characters arranged to look like a face — ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) — and are read upright, without tilting your head.

Do kaomoji work everywhere?

Almost. Because they’re plain text, kaomoji paste into nearly any app — Discord, Instagram, texts, docs, usernames. A few use rare characters that some older fonts can’t draw and may show a box (□); the common faces work everywhere.

Are kaomoji and emoticons the same thing?

They’re cousins. Western emoticons like :) or :-D are read sideways. Kaomoji are the Japanese style, read upright and far more expressive — (＾▽＾), (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ — without rotating your head.

What Is a Kaomoji? The Complete Guide to Japanese Text Faces

What is a kaomoji?

A kaomoji (顔文字, literally “face characters”) is a Japanese-style emoticon built from ordinary text — letters, punctuation, brackets and Japanese characters arranged to look like a face. The crucial difference from Western emoticons is that you read them upright: there’s no need to tilt your head like you do for :) or :-D. They run from a simple shrug ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ to wildly expressive faces like ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ and (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻.

Because a kaomoji is just text, you can paste it almost anywhere — chat apps, social captions, usernames, bios, code comments — and it carries a tone and personality that a single emoji often can’t.

Kaomoji vs emoji vs emoticons

The three are easy to mix up:

Emoticons are the original Western text faces, read sideways: :), ;-), :'(.
Emoji are single pictographic characters defined by Unicode and drawn by your device — 😀 🎉 🐱. They look different on every platform.
Kaomoji are the Japanese style: multi-character text faces read upright, like (＾▽＾) or (ノ°益°)ノ. They look the same wherever the characters are supported, because they are the characters.

How to type and copy kaomoji

Building a kaomoji by hand is fiddly — many use combining marks and characters that aren’t on your keyboard. The fast way is to copy a ready-made one: on this site, tap any face and it’s on your clipboard instantly, then paste it wherever you like. If you’d rather type your own:

iPhone / iPad: add a Japanese (Kana) keyboard, type kao and the suggestion bar offers a long list of kaomoji.
Android: Gboard → the emoji panel has a “ ( •_•) ” / kaomoji tab; or install a Japanese keyboard for the full set.
Windows: press Win + . (period) to open the emoji panel, then the kaomoji tab (the “ (• ▽ •;) ” icon).
Mac: Ctrl + Cmd + Space opens Character Viewer; or just copy from here — it’s quicker.

However you get them, your favourites and recents on this site stay saved in your own browser, so the faces you use most are always one tap away.

How a kaomoji is built

Most kaomoji share a simple anatomy. The brackets ( ) 〔〕 form the face’s outline; the eyes carry most of the emotion — happy curves like ＾ ◕ ≧, teary T_T ;_;, or the cold stare ಠ; the mouth sits between them (ω, ▽, ³, 益); and optional arms or effects — raised ＼(…)／, reaching out (づ…)づ, or trailing sparkles ✧ — add motion. Swap any one part and the feeling changes.

Where kaomoji came from

Kaomoji grew out of Japanese text culture in the late 1980s and exploded on early message boards like 2channel in the 2000s, where the upright, head-on style suited the Japanese writing system better than sideways Western emoticons. From there the most expressive faces — the shrug, the Lenny, the table flip — spread worldwide and became internet staples.

Start browsing

Pick a mood and start copying:

Or jump to a famous face:

What is a kaomoji? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)