Words / B2

i-MOHT-ik-on/ɪˈməʊtɪkɒn/

An emoticon is a simple face made from keyboard characters to show a feeling in a message: a smiley emoticon; type an emoticon. Emoji is the later picture-character twin; smiley is everyday. An emoticon in the transcript is still a named token; quote it. Mix-up: emoticon vs emoji; emoticon vs emotion; do not write emoticon for a photograph of a face.

Meaning

A simple face made from keyboard characters to show a feeling in a message (:) ).

Examples

• “An emoticon in the transcript is still a named token; quote it, the media paper said.”
• “Emoticons featured in the netiquette brief, which is still a named rule — quote the example used.”

Good to know

an emoticon; a smiley emoticon. Later twin: emoji. Trap: emotion / a photo. Media and computing. Typed keyboard face — quote the characters, not “they seemed happy”.

Near in meaning

smiley, smiley face, keyboard face

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