Bear Emoji

A brown bear face with round ears and a friendly expression. 🐻 carries more cultural identities than almost any animal emoji: childhood comfort (teddy bears), financial pessimism (bear markets), geopolitical symbolism (the Russian Bear), political censorship (Winnie the Pooh in China), and ecological majesty (grizzlies, polar bears, pandas).

Added in Unicode 6.0 (2010). The bear emoji looks cuddly, but what it represents is anything but simple. A US president's act of mercy created a $9 billion toy industry. A children's cartoon character became a tool of political resistance against the Chinese government. A Wall Street metaphor turns the bear into an omen of financial loss. And the real animal can rip a car door off its hinges.

Google Trends shows 🐻 spiked to 65 in Q1 2024 (compared to 🦁 at 16 and 🐯 at 8), likely driven by a cultural moment or meme. The bear had its moment, and it was 4x bigger than the lion's.

🐻 covers the entire bear spectrum.

Cute and cuddly. 'Bear hug 🐻' or 'My teddy 🐻' or 'Big soft bear 🐻.' The teddy bear is one of the most beloved toys in history, and 🐻 inherits that warmth. Calling someone a bear is usually affectionate: they're big, warm, and huggable.

Financial markets. 'Bear market 🐻📉' signals declining stock prices. The term comes from the proverb about selling the bear's skin before catching the bear (speculating on a price drop). Bulls push up (🐂📈), bears push down (🐻📉). In crypto and stock market communities, 🐻 is pessimism incarnate.

"Mama bear" energy. 'Don't mess with a mama 🐻' signals fierce protectiveness. Mother bears defending their cubs is one of nature's most dangerous scenarios, and the metaphor has become a standard expression for protective parents.

Russia. The Russian Bear has been a symbol of Russia in Western political cartoons since the 18th century. It represents Russia's size, strength, and perceived aggressiveness. The United Russia Party uses a bear as its logo. The bear isn't Russia's official symbol (that's the double-headed eagle), but it's the one the world associates with the country.

LGBTQ+ community. In gay culture, a 'bear') refers to a large, hairy man. The bear community has its own flag, its own events, and 🐻 is sometimes used in this context.

The bear's cultural story begins with a president who refused to shoot one.

In November 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt went on a hunting trip in Mississippi. After three days without finding a bear, his guides cornered, clubbed, and tied an American black bear to a tree, then invited Roosevelt to shoot it. Roosevelt refused, calling it unsportsmanlike. He ordered the bear killed to end its suffering, but wouldn't pull the trigger himself.

Political cartoonist Clifford Berryman drew the scene for The Washington Post. Brooklyn candy shop owner Morris Michtom saw the cartoon, made two stuffed toy bears, put them in his window, and asked Roosevelt's permission to call them "Teddy's bears." Roosevelt agreed. Michtom's toy bears were so popular that he founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company. The Smithsonian documented how Roosevelt's hunting refusal created the teddy bear industry.

Simultaneously in Germany, Margarete Steiff was independently developing stuffed bears. Her company's bears debuted at the 1903 Leipzig Toy Fair and were a sensation. The Steiff teddy bear became the gold standard of plush toys. A president's moment of mercy and a German toymaker's craft created one of the world's most beloved objects. The teddy bear industry is now worth an estimated $9+ billion globally.

Then there's the Winnie-the-Pooh phenomenon. A.A. Milne's 1926 stories about a honey-loving bear became one of literature's most enduring creations. Disney acquired the rights and turned Pooh into a global franchise worth billions. But in 2013, Chinese internet users noticed that photos of Xi Jinping walking next to Barack Obama resembled images of Pooh walking next to Tigger. The comparison became a meme. The Chinese government censored Winnie-the-Pooh imagery when used to mock Xi, blocking posts and search terms. NPR and CBS covered the censorship. A children's bear became a tool of political resistance against one of the world's most powerful governments.

Approved in Unicode 6.0 (2010) as U+1F43BU+1F43B BEAR FACE. Added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015. The polar bear variant 🐻‍❄️ was added in Emoji 13.0 (2020) as a ZWJ sequence.

1. 1902Theodore Roosevelt refuses to shoot a tied-up bear in Mississippi. Political cartoonist Clifford Berryman draws the scene.↗
2. 1903Morris Michtom sells the first 'Teddy's bears' in Brooklyn. Margarete Steiff debuts stuffed bears at the Leipzig Toy Fair.↗
3. 1926A.A. Milne publishes Winnie-the-Pooh. A honey-loving bear becomes one of literature's most beloved characters.↗
4. 2013Chinese internet users compare Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh. The government begins censoring Pooh imagery used to mock Xi.↗

The bear means dramatically different things depending on context.

In North America: respect and danger. Grizzly bears are a symbol of the American wilderness. 'Bear country' signs warn hikers. The National Park Service spends enormous resources managing human-bear interactions.

In Russia: national identity. The bear represents Russia's size, strength, and resilience. Western political cartoons have depicted Russia as a bear since the 18th century. The United Russia Party uses a bear logo.

In Chinese internet culture: political resistance. Winnie the Pooh became a coded way to discuss Xi Jinping. The government's censorship of a children's character drew international attention.

In financial markets: pessimism. A 'bear market' means prices are falling. The bear swipes downward. The bull charges upward. This metaphor has been in use since at least the 18th century.

In LGBTQ+ culture): identity. 'Bears' are large, hairy men in the gay community. The bear community has its own pride flag), events, and social spaces.

• •The teddy bear was named after Theodore Roosevelt after he refused to shoot a tied-up bear in 1902. Morris Michtom made the first stuffed 'Teddy's bears' in Brooklyn. The industry is now worth $9+ billion globally. How Roosevelt's refusal created the teddy bear.
• •Chinese internet users compared Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh starting in 2013. The government censored Pooh imagery used politically. A children's character became a tool of resistance.
• •The Russian Bear has symbolized Russia in Western political cartoons since the 18th century. Russia's official symbol is actually the double-headed eagle, but the bear is what the world associates with the country.
• •In financial markets, 'bear market' means prices are falling. The term may come from a proverb about selling the bear's skin before catching the bear (speculating on decline). Bulls (🐂) push up. Bears (🐻) push down.
• •In LGBTQ+ culture), a 'bear' is a large, hairy man. The bear community has its own pride flag, social events, and identity. 🐻 carries this meaning in LGBTQ+ spaces.
• •Margarete Steiff, a German toymaker who used a wheelchair due to polio, independently developed stuffed bears that debuted at the 1903 Leipzig Toy Fair. Her Steiff bears became the gold standard of plush toys and are still collected today.
• •Google Trends shows 🐻 spiked to 65 in Q1 2024 (vs 🦁 at 16 and 🐯 at 8). The bear had a cultural moment that was 4x bigger than the lion's.

• •Winnie-the-Pooh (A.A. Milne, 1926; Disney franchise) is one of the most beloved fictional bears in history. The Xi Jinping comparison meme (2013+) turned the character into a tool of political resistance, censored by the Chinese government.
• •Theodore Roosevelt's 1902 hunting refusal created the teddy bear. The Smithsonian tells the story. A president's sportsmanship became a $9 billion toy industry and one of the most important moments in the history of childhood.
• •Paddington Bear (Michael Bond, 1958) is a Peruvian bear living in London. The recent film franchise) earned critical acclaim and box office success. Paddington's trademark: a marmalade sandwich and a hard stare.
• •The Russian Bear has been used in Western political cartoons since at least the 1791 caricature of Russia during the Russo-Turkish War. It's one of the most enduring national animal stereotypes in geopolitics.
• •Wall Street's bear and bull metaphor is one of finance's most famous visual concepts. The Charging Bull sculpture in New York's Financial District has become one of the most photographed statues in the world. There's no equivalent Bear sculpture. The bull got the monument. The bear got the emoji.

• •🐻 is U+1F43BU+1F43B. Unicode name: BEAR FACE. Common shortcodes: :bear::bear: (Slack, Discord, GitHub). Part of Unicode 6.0 (2010).
• •The polar bear emoji 🐻‍❄️ is a ZWJ sequence: U+1F43BU+1F43B + U+200DU+200D + U+2744U+2744 + U+FE0FU+FE0F. Not all devices render it correctly. Fallback: 🐻❄️ (two characters).
• •For financial apps: 🐻 (bearish/down) and 🐂 (bullish/up) are established emoji conventions for market sentiment. Consider supporting these in trading dashboards and commentary.

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