Green Square Emoji

A solid green square. In Wordle, this is the one you want. 🟩 means correct letter, correct position. A full row of 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 is the flex, the screenshot, the humble brag. Only about 0.39% of players get an all-green first guess.

But green's power as a symbol didn't start with a word game. Green has meant "go" since the world's first traffic light was installed outside the British Parliament in 1868. Shakespeare coined "green-eyed monster" for jealousy in Othello (1604). Programmers have stared at green phosphor terminals since the 1970s, and The Matrix burned green-on-black into the collective image of "hacker."

Approved in Unicode 12.0 (2019) under the official name "Large Green Square," 🟩 works as a universal positive: success, permission, health, nature, done. It's the status color that means everything is fine.

🟩 is the reward square of the internet.

In Wordle and its 100+ spin-offs, 🟩 marks correct letter in the correct position. The most satisfying Wordle result is a grid full of green. The game averages 3.80 guesses per solve, with most players needing 3-4 tries. Posting a grid that's mostly green is a status signal.

On TikTok in 2023, "green flags" became the #1 trending concept worldwide. Creators listed traits that signal a healthy relationship (good communicator, respects boundaries, asks about your day). The green/red/beige flag framework entered everyday dating vocabulary.

In Slack, Jira, GitHub, and project management tools, green means done, passing, healthy, or approved. A green CI build badge is developer shorthand for "ship it." Green squares also dominate GitHub contribution graphs, where a streak of green boxes signals an active coding habit.

In environmental messaging, green equals sustainability. Brands, nonprofits, and political campaigns use green to signal eco-friendliness. The association is so strong that "greenwashing" became a term for companies that fake it.

During election seasons in some countries, green squares signal support for green parties or environmental causes.

🟩 was approved in Unicode 12.0 on March 5, 2019, under the official name "Large Green Square" (code point U+1F7E9U+1F7E9). It was part of the L2/18-141 colored shapes proposal that added seven new colored squares at once.

Green's association with "go" dates to December 10, 1868, when the world's first traffic light was installed at Parliament Square in London. Designed by railway engineer J.P. Knight, it used red and green gas lamps at night, operated by a police constable. It exploded 23 days later (a gas leak), injuring the officer. But the red-stop, green-go convention survived and spread worldwide.

Green's associations with jealousy go even further back. Shakespeare wrote about "green-eyed jealousy" in The Merchant of Venice (1596) and then the famous "green-eyed monster" in Othello (1604). The color had been linked to envy since at least the ancient Greeks, who believed jealousy caused overproduction of bile, giving the skin a greenish tinge.

Western cultures: Green means go, safe, healthy, approved. Traffic lights, exit signs, and "green checkmarks" all reinforce this. But green also means jealousy (Shakespeare's "green-eyed monster") and inexperience ("greenhorn"). It carries both positive and negative weight.

Islam: Green is the most sacred color, associated with paradise as described in the Qur'an. The Prophet Muhammad reportedly wore a green cloak. Many Islamic nations feature green on their flags. Using green casually in contexts that could be seen as disrespectful can cause offense.

Ireland: The Emerald Isle. Green represents Irish national identity, St. Patrick's Day, and Catholic tradition (as distinct from Protestant orange). The shamrock, green beer, and "wearing of the green" make it arguably the most color-coded national identity on Earth.

China: Green can mean both growth/harmony and infidelity. A "green hat" (戴绿帽子, dài lǜ màozi) means a man's partner is unfaithful. Never give someone a green hat in China.

Japan: Traffic lights in Japan are called "blue" (青い, aoi) even though they look green to Western eyes. The Japanese linguistic boundary between blue and green is different from English.

Environmentalism (global): Green = eco, sustainable, organic. The association is so established that "greenwashing" became a term for companies that use green imagery without backing it up.

• •Only 0.39% of Wordle players solve on the first guess (all-green row). With 2,315 possible answers, the mathematical odds are roughly 1 in 2,315. Most players need 3-4 tries.
• •The world's first traffic light was installed at Parliament Square in London on December 10, 1868. It used red and green gas lamps at night, operated by a police constable. It exploded 23 days later from a gas leak.
• •Shakespeare coined "green-eyed monster" for jealousy in Othello (1604) and "green-eyed jealousy" in The Merchant of Venice (1596). The color-jealousy link goes back even further, to ancient Greek medicine and bile theory.
• •In Chinese culture, a "green hat" (戴绿帽子) means a man's partner is unfaithful. The expression dates back centuries and makes green a loaded color in Chinese gift-giving. Never give someone a green hat in China.
• •The iconic green Matrix code traces back to 1970s phosphor terminals that literally glowed green. The Matrix (1999) turned this into the universal visual shorthand for hacking, AI, and digital mastery.
• •"Green flags" became TikTok's #1 trending concept worldwide in 2023. Creators listed healthy relationship signs (good communicator, respects boundaries). The green/red/beige flag system has entered everyday vocabulary.
• •In Islam, green is the most sacred color, representing paradise as described in the Qur'an. The Prophet Muhammad reportedly wore a green cloak. Many Islamic nations feature green on their flags.
• •GitHub's contribution graph uses green squares to show coding activity. "Making the squares green" became developer shorthand for maintaining a consistent coding habit. The darker the green, the more commits that day.

• •Wordle's trophy color (2022-present) — In Wordle, 🟩 means correct letter in the correct position. A row of 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 is the ultimate flex. The game averages 3.80 guesses per solve, making all-green results vanishingly rare (0.39% on the first try).
• •The Matrix (1999) — The iconic cascading green code defined the visual language of hacking and AI for a generation. The green-on-black aesthetic traces back to 1970s phosphor terminal displays, but The Matrix made it mainstream pop culture.
• •Shakespeare's green-eyed monster (1604) — In Othello, Iago warns: "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on." Green has meant jealousy in English for over 400 years.
• •TikTok green flags (2023) — The green/red/beige flag trend became TikTok's #1 concept worldwide in 2023. "Green flags" are signs of a healthy relationship. The framework entered everyday dating vocabulary and is now used beyond romantic contexts.
• •GitHub contribution graphs — Developers track their coding activity on GitHub's green-square heat map. A solid streak of green boxes signals consistent work. "Making the squares green" became shorthand for maintaining a coding habit.

• •🟩 sits at U+1F7E9U+1F7E9 in the Geometric Shapes Extended block. Official name: LARGE GREEN SQUARELARGE GREEN SQUARE.
• •Common shortcodes: :green_square::green_square: on GitHub and Slack.
• •GitHub's contribution graph uses green squares (light to dark) to show commit activity. The squares render via SVG, not actual emoji.
• •Green CI badges (✅ or 🟩) are standard in README files to signal passing builds. Pair with alt text for screen reader accessibility.

See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.