Etymology

emoji

e·mo·ji
E1M3O1J8I1

Today it means: A digital graphic icon with a unique code point used to represent a concept, object, person, animal or place, originally used in Japanese text messaging but since adopted internationally in other contexts such as social media. Full definition →

Japanese 絵文字 (emoji) ← Middle Chinese 文字 (mjun dziH)
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The story

  1. Middle Chinese繪 (hwajH)
  2. Japanese絵 (e)
  3. Middle Chinese文字 (mjun dziH)
  4. Japanese文字 (monji)
  5. Japanese文字 (moji)
  6. Japanese絵文字 (emoji)
  7. English todayemoji

Borrowed from Japanese 絵文字(えもじ) (emoji), from 絵(え) (e, “picture”) + 文字(もじ) (moji, “character”). False cognate of English emotion and emoticon.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.