Beans Emoji

A handful of kidney-shaped beans, typically shown in reddish-brown. Emojipedia describes it as representing beans, approved in Unicode 14.0 (2021). The proposal (L2/20-226) by Jian Chung Lee argued that beans are "just as cultural as they are culinary" and can represent colloquialisms and cultural symbols beyond food.

The idiom angle is what makes 🫘 more interesting than a typical food emoji. "Spill the beans" (reveal a secret), "full of beans" (energetic, often used in British English), and "cool beans" (expressing approval, 90s/2000s slang) all get represented by 🫘. In Chinese culture, red beans (红豆) symbolize yearning for a loved one, adding a romantic dimension that most Western users wouldn't expect.

The proposal noted that "bean" was one of the most requested emojis in 2019, with Reddit and Twitter users frequently asking why no bean emoji existed. The closest workaround had been 🥜 (Peanut), which isn't a bean, or food emojis that couldn't capture the cultural expressions beans carry.

🫘 gets used in food content ("chili night 🫘"), plant-based diet discussions, and Latin American cuisine posts. Beans are a staple food across Mexico, Central America, Brazil, and the Caribbean, so 🫘 shows up heavily in cultural food content from those regions.

The idiom use is equally active. "Spill the 🫘" as a request for gossip or secrets is common in group chats. "Cool 🫘" works as a nostalgic callback to 2000s-era approval slang. "Full of 🫘" describes someone with excessive energy.

On TikTok, beans became a minor meme category. "Beans at 2am" and surrealist bean humor have their own subcommunities. The emoji benefits from this absurdist attention, appearing in content that has nothing to do with actual cooking.

• •The Unicode proposal (L2/20-226) by Jian Chung Lee argued that beans are "just as cultural as they are culinary," citing idioms, cultural symbolism, and the food's global importance.
• •In Chinese culture, red beans symbolize yearning for a loved one, based on a Tang Dynasty poem. 🫘 carries a romantic meaning for Chinese speakers that doesn't exist in Western usage.
• •"Bean" was one of the most requested emojis in 2019. Users on Reddit and Twitter had been asking why no bean emoji existed, given beans' status as a staple food for billions worldwide.
• •The closest previous workaround was 🥜 (Peanut), but peanuts are legumes, not beans in the culinary sense. 🫘 filled a genuine gap in food emoji coverage.

• •Codepoint: U+1FAD8U+1FAD8. Part of Unicode 14.0 (2021). Single character.
• •Shortcodes: :beans::beans: on most platforms.
• •Screen readers announce "beans" which is clear.
• •The emoji most closely resembles dark red kidney beans on most platforms, though some show a variety of bean types.

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