Man Emoji
U+1F468:man:Skin tonesAbout Man ðĻ
Man () is part of the People & Body group in Unicode. Added in Unicode E0.6. Type on GitHub and Slack to use it. Click copy above to grab it, paste it anywhere.
Works in iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, and every app that supports Unicode. Pick a skin tone above to customize it.
Meaning varies across cultures, see cultural notes below.
Scroll down for the full story: meaning, trends, combos, and more.
How it looks
What does it mean?
An adult man. ðĻ is one of the four original age-gender emojis that shipped with the founding Unicode 6.0 release in October 2010: ðķ, ðĶ, ðĻ, ðī. Most platforms draw him with short hair, a neutral expression, and a ruddy or yellow face. The design varies in hair color and facial hair by vendor (Apple's is dark brown; Samsung often gives him stubble), but the proportions are consistent: he reads adult and he reads male.
ðĻ is one of the most structurally important emoji in the Unicode standard. For a decade it was the base character for almost every gendered and professional ZWJ (Zero Width Joiner) sequence: ðĻâðŧ man technologist, ðĻâðģ man cook, ðĻââïļ man health worker, ðĻâð man astronaut, ðĻâðĪ man singer, and dozens more. It anchored most family sequences too: ðĻâðĐâð§âðĶ (man, woman, girl, boy), ðĻâðĶ (man and boy), ðĻâð§âð§ (man and two girls).
Then ð§ Person arrived in Emoji 5.0 in 2017, and in October 2019 Apple's iOS 13.2 redrew 265 designs to use ð§ where ðĻ had previously been the default. Professions that had been male by default (scientist, judge, pilot) now offer a woman/person/man selector on the iOS keyboard. ðĻ is still everywhere, but it's a deliberate choice rather than a structural assumption.
Supports all five Fitzpatrick skin-tone modifiers (ðĻðŧ ðĻðž ðĻð― ðĻðū ðĻðŋ) and the new 2020 hair-component modifiers: ðĻâðĶ° red hair, ðĻâðĶą curly hair, ðĻâðĶģ white hair, ðĻâðĶē bald.
In family and relationship content, ðĻ is shorthand for your husband, your dad, or a specific adult man in your life. "My ðĻ made dinner," "appreciation post for my ðĻ," "raising two kids with my ðĻ." This lane leans affectionate and is paired often with âĪïļ or ðĨđ.
The dad-content lane is massive. Father's Day posts use ðĻ with ðĶ or ð§ constantly. ðĻâð§ (girl-dad) and ðĻâðĶ (boy-dad) are the signature ZWJ sequences for that whole Instagram/TikTok subculture. The Father's Day emoji set Emojipedia curates pairs ðĻ with ð, ð ïļ, â―, ðïļ, ð§ â the "dad is competent at a thing" archetype.
ðĻ also carries ZWJ-sequence work that makes it more useful as a building block than as a standalone. In tech and creative Slack channels, ðĻâðŧ is a go-to self-descriptor. In restaurant content, ðĻâðģ is the chef. In healthcare, ðĻââïļ. In any industry where women and nonbinary workers are equally present, teams increasingly use ð§-based versions, but ðĻ-led sequences are still the most-reached-for shorthand when the person is specifically a man.
The "generic" or "that man" use is smaller but real. Tweets like "the ðĻ at the coffee shop today" or "when a ðĻ says X" use ðĻ to narrate an anonymous man. It's more common in English-language internet writing than in spoken-register captions.
Finally, ðĻ does the job of marking any adult-male-coded thing in a caption. Manly-man content (#MensMentalHealth, #MenWhoCook, #DadBod posts) leans on it as a visual tag without meaning anything more than "this is about men."
An adult man. One of the original four age-gender emojis from Unicode 6.0 (2010). Used to describe men generically, as a relationship shorthand ("my ðĻ"), in dad and Father's Day content, and as the base codepoint for dozens of profession and family ZWJ sequences (ðĻâðŧ, ðĻââïļ, ðĻâðĐâð§âðĶ).
The Age and Gender Matrix
Infancy
Childhood (roughly 2-10)
Adulthood
Elderhood
What it means from...
Between friends, ðĻ is often "the man in the scenario" narration, or a shorthand for a boyfriend/husband in the friend's life. "Her ðĻ picked her up," "my ðĻ said the funniest thing." Less common as a direct address.
Between partners, ðĻ is an affectionate nickname emoji. "My ðĻ," "appreciation post for my ðĻ," "I love my ðĻ" â typically paired with âĪïļ or ðĨđ. Heavily used in couple-content captions.
In family chats, ðĻ is dad, stepdad, or uncle. Used in logistics ("ðĻ is picking you up"), in ZWJ sequences (ðĻâðĶ, ðĻâð§), and in Father's Day messages (ðĻâĪïļ from the kids).
At work, ðĻâðŧ and ðĻââïļ and ðĻâðģ show up in Slack avatars, bios, and channel emoji. Standalone ðĻ is rarer. Increasingly replaced by ð§-based sequences in inclusive workplaces.
Flirty or friendly?
ðĻ isn't flirty on its own, but it's one of the more romantic-adjacent age emojis because it shows up heavily in "my man" possessive-affectionate content. Between partners, ðĻâĪïļ is a very standard couple combo. Between strangers, it's almost never romantic.
- âĒ"My ðĻ" from a partner in their bio or post: affectionate claim, very standard.
- âĒðĻ + âĪïļ + another adult emoji: couple content, usually publicly affectionate.
- âĒðĻ alone from someone you're dating: usually narrative ("that ðĻ over there"), not a signal.
- âĒðĻâð§ / ðĻâðĶ in a dating-app bio: "I have kids." Read the rest of the profile.
- âĒBetween platonic friends, ðĻ is almost always descriptive ("the ðĻ at X"), not romantic.
Emoji combos
Origin story
ðĻ came into Unicode the same way ðĶ, ð§, and ðĐ did: not designed for the standard, but inherited from the Japanese carrier emoji libraries (DoCoMo, KDDI, SoftBank) that Unicode was standardizing in 2010. The original glyphs were drawn in the Japanese tradition of simple, schoolbook-style pictographs. The "man" was drawn as a clean-shaven adult with short hair because those were the most gender-legible cues in the pictograph style.
What made ðĻ unusual wasn't its design. It was how much structural weight Unicode put on it. For almost a decade, ðĻ was the anchor codepoint for dozens of ZWJ (Zero Width Joiner) sequences that described professions, activities, and families. When you saw ðĻââïļ health worker, that wasn't a single emoji; it was (man + ZWJ + medical symbol). The "default" health worker was male because ðĻ was the codepoint the sequence was built on.
Paul Hunt's 2016 proposal L2/16-317 added ð§ Adult in Emoji 5.0 (2017) partly to give Unicode a neutral base for future ZWJ sequences. The follow-up work, led by Jennifer Daniel from 2018 onward, pushed vendors to redraw existing sequences using ð§ so "scientist" and "firefighter" and "judge" stopped defaulting to ðĻ.
Apple shipped iOS 13.2 in October 2019 with 265 redrawn designs, most of which swapped implicit ðĻ out for ð§. It didn't delete ðĻ, but it stopped making him the default. The modern iOS emoji keyboard offers a woman/person/man selector for most role emojis. ðĻ's standalone role ("an adult man") is as strong as it ever was; its structural role ("the base of all the professions") got rearchitected.
Approved in Unicode 6.0 (October 2010) as MAN, inherited from Japanese carrier emoji sets. Added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015. Skin-tone modifiers arrived in Emoji 2.0 (2015). Hair-component modifiers (red, curly, white, bald) shipped in Emoji 11.0 (2018). Used as the base codepoint for dozens of ZWJ profession and family sequences throughout the 2010s.
Professions Built on ðĻ as the Unicode Base
Design history
- 2010ðĻ approved in Unicode 6.0 as U+1F468, inherited from Japanese carrier setsâ
- 2015Emoji 2.0 ships Fitzpatrick skin-tone modifiersâ
- 2016Paul Hunt proposes gender-inclusive alternatives (L2/16-317), affecting how ðĻ is used as a ZWJ baseâ
- 2017ð§ Person ships in Emoji 5.0, giving Unicode a neutral alternative to ðĻ as a ZWJ baseâ
- 2018Emoji 11.0 adds hair-component modifiers: ðĻâðĶ° (red), ðĻâðĶą (curly), ðĻâðĶģ (white), ðĻâðĶē (bald)â
- 2019Apple's iOS 13.2 redraws 265 designs, replacing many implicit ðĻ-based sequences with ð§â
- 2020ð§ââïļ Man: Beard added in Emoji 13.1 as a specifically-male variant of the previously male-default bearded personâ
Around the world
In English-speaking parenting and couple content, ðĻ is affectionate shorthand ("my ðĻ," "raising kids with my ðĻ"). That register is strongest on Instagram in the US and UK.
In Japanese-language posts, ðĻ is used more generically and less affectionately. Japanese emoji culture tends to prefer specific-role emojis (ðĻâðģ, ðĻâðŦ) for context and keeps standalone ðĻ for description.
In Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, and other gendered-language internet cultures, ðĻ is used more frequently than ð§ because the surrounding language already genders. English is the outlier in having space for ð§ to displace ðĻ.
In global business and media contexts, ðĻ in professional ZWJ sequences still does a lot of work, but large inclusive-hiring companies have started defaulting to ð§-based internal branding to avoid implying default-male professions. The split between ðĻâðŧ and ð§âðŧ is now a small but real workplace-culture signal.
Often confused with
ð§ is the gender-neutral adult. ðĻ is specifically male-coded. Use ðĻ when gender matters (dad content, husband posts); use ð§ when it doesn't (the generic professional, the group emoji).
ð§ is the gender-neutral adult. ðĻ is specifically male-coded. Use ðĻ when gender matters (dad content, husband posts); use ð§ when it doesn't (the generic professional, the group emoji).
ðĶ is a boy (roughly 2-10 years old). ðĻ is an adult. The visible difference is face shape, stubble, and proportions. Don't use ðĶ for adult sons unless the content is nostalgic.
ðĶ is a boy (roughly 2-10 years old). ðĻ is an adult. The visible difference is face shape, stubble, and proportions. Don't use ðĶ for adult sons unless the content is nostalgic.
ðī is an old man. ðĻ is a working-age adult. The gray hair, glasses, and wrinkles are ðī's signifiers. Use ðī for grandfather content, ðĻ for dad content.
ðī is an old man. ðĻ is a working-age adult. The gray hair, glasses, and wrinkles are ðī's signifiers. Use ðī for grandfather content, ðĻ for dad content.
ð§ is the person-with-beard emoji. In 2017 it was male-coded; after the gender-neutral redesign in 2020, ð§ââïļ became the explicitly-male bearded variant. ðĻ is the clean-shaven adult man by default.
ð§ is the person-with-beard emoji. In 2017 it was male-coded; after the gender-neutral redesign in 2020, ð§ââïļ became the explicitly-male bearded variant. ðĻ is the clean-shaven adult man by default.
ðĐ is an adult woman, the gender-paired counterpart to ðĻ. Together they make ðĻâðĐ family sequences. Use both when representing mixed-gender couples or groups.
ðĐ is an adult woman, the gender-paired counterpart to ðĻ. Together they make ðĻâðĐ family sequences. Use both when representing mixed-gender couples or groups.
ðĻ is specifically an adult man. ð§ is the gender-neutral adult added in Emoji 5.0 (2017). Use ðĻ when gender is the point; use ð§ when it isn't. Apple's iOS 13.2 (2019) redesign pushed many profession emojis to default to ð§ instead of ðĻ.
ðĻ is a working-age adult (roughly 20-60). ðī is an older man (visibly gray hair, sometimes glasses). The line between them is fuzzy, but ðī's visual cues are unambiguously senior. Use ðī for grandfathers, ðĻ for dads.
Do's and don'ts
- âUse ðĻ in family logistics and affectionate partner content
- âUse ðĻ-led ZWJ sequences (ðĻâðŧ, ðĻâðģ) when the specific person is a man
- âUse ð§-led sequences in inclusive professional contexts where the person isn't specified
- âApply skin-tone and hair-component modifiers when relevant (ðĻð―âðĶą, ðĻðŧâðĶģ)
- âDefault to ðĻ-based professions in inclusive content when ð§ would be more neutral
- âUse ðĻ for a boy or teenager â use ðĶ or ð§ for pre-adult
- âConfuse ðĻ with ðī (old man); use ðī for grandpa content specifically
- âPile ðĻ onto every message just to gender the sentence â context usually carries it
Yes, when the person is specifically a man. The inclusive shift is about changing defaults, not deprecating ðĻ. For a specific male chef, ðĻâðģ is exactly right. For a generic or unknown-gender chef, ð§âðģ is more inclusive.
Caption ideas
Aesthetic sets
Fun facts
- âĒðĻ is one of the four original age-gender emojis from Unicode 6.0 (2010). The others: ðķ, ðĶ, ðī. Each has a female counterpart that shipped the same day.
- âĒUntil 2017, every profession ZWJ sequence in Unicode was built on ðĻ or ðĐ as its base codepoint. After ð§ arrived in Emoji 5.0 (2017), vendors began redrawing defaults to use ð§ instead, especially Apple in iOS 13.2.
- âĒEmoji 11.0 in 2018 added four hair-component modifiers for ðĻ: ðĻâðĶ° red, ðĻâðĶą curly, ðĻâðĶģ white, ðĻâðĶē bald. Each is a ZWJ sequence combining ðĻ with a hair-texture codepoint.
- âĒThe bearded person emoji ð§ was originally male-coded in 2017, then redesigned gender-neutral in 2020 after the inclusion redesign. The male-specific version became ð§ââïļ Man: Beard in Emoji 13.1.
- âĒGoogle's 2019 gender-fluid emoji release launched 53 gender-ambiguous designs specifically to live between ðĻ and ðĐ, acknowledging how much work the binary was being asked to do.
- âĒWhen Apple shipped iOS 13.2 in October 2019, 265 emoji designs were redrawn. Most of them replaced implicit ðĻ-based defaults with ð§-based alternatives. ðĻ is still available, just not default for "scientist" anymore.
- âĒðĻ is the base for roughly 30 distinct profession and activity ZWJ sequences in the current Unicode standard, including technologist, cook, mechanic, pilot, astronaut, farmer, and health worker.
Common misinterpretations
- âĒðĻ doesn't automatically mean "a professional" or "someone at work." The ZWJ professional sequences (ðĻâðŧ, ðĻââïļ) do that. ðĻ alone is just "an adult man."
- âĒðĻ isn't a flex. Unlike ðŠ or ðĨ, ðĻ doesn't signal masculinity-as-strength. It's descriptive, not performative.
- âĒðĻ in a relationship post usually isn't possessive in a red-flag way. "My ðĻ" has been the norm for over a decade in couple content and reads warm rather than controlling.
- âĒðĻ isn't interchangeable with ð§. The gender signal is preserved in Apple's current designs, so reaching for ð§ is a deliberate inclusive choice, not a stylistic shortcut.
In pop culture
- âĒApple's iOS 13.2 in October 2019 redrew 265 emoji designs, most of which replaced implicit ðĻ-based sequences with ð§. It was the first high-profile platform acknowledgment that ðĻ had been doing too much structural work.
- âĒFather's Day emoji coverage on Emojipedia and other outlets positions ðĻ as the central emoji for the whole holiday, usually paired with ðĶ, ð§, ð, or ð ïļ. The "dad is handy" visual vocabulary is well-established.
- âĒThe 2018 hair component modifier release let ðĻ add red hair (ðĻâðĶ°), curly hair (ðĻâðĶą), white hair (ðĻâðĶģ), and bald (ðĻâðĶē). Media coverage focused on how the bald variant specifically had been requested by fans for years.
- âĒGay couple representation got simpler in 2016 when Apple shipped ðĻââĪïļâðĻ (Couple with Heart: Man, Man) as a ZWJ sequence, replacing the workaround of typing ðĻâĪïļðĻ as three separate emojis.
Trivia
For developers
- âĒCodepoint . Skin-tone modifiers through .
- âĒShortcodes: (GitHub, Slack, Discord). CLDR slug: .
- âĒBase codepoint for dozens of ZWJ profession sequences: ðĻâðŧ = . Pattern: man + ZWJ + profession symbol.
- âĒHair-component modifiers (Emoji 11.0): ðĻâðĶ° red, ðĻâðĶą curly, ðĻâðĶģ white, ðĻâðĶē bald. Each is .
- âĒApple's iOS 13.2 (2019) redrew 265 designs to use ð§ (U+1F9D1) where ðĻ had been the implicit default.
When Unicode began standardizing profession and activity emojis in the mid-2010s, it built them as ZWJ (Zero Width Joiner) sequences. ðĻ was the most-used base codepoint because the Japanese carrier emojis that seeded Unicode already had a male-coded "person" figure. After ð§ shipped in 2017, Unicode started building gender-neutral alternatives, and Apple's iOS 13.2 redrew 265 designs to make the neutral versions the default.
Yes. Hair-component modifiers (red, curly, white, bald) were added in Emoji 11.0 (2018): ðĻâðĶ° ðĻâðĶą ðĻâðĶģ ðĻâðĶē. Beard is a separate emoji (ð§ââïļ Man: Beard, Emoji 13.1, 2020). Skin-tone modifiers (ðĻðŧ to ðĻðŋ) work across all of them.
ðĻ shipped in Unicode 6.0 in October 2010 as codepoint U+1F468. Part of the 722-emoji foundational set sourced from Japanese carrier libraries. Skin-tone modifiers came in Emoji 2.0 (2015); hair variants in Emoji 11.0 (2018).
ðĻââĪïļâðĻ is Couple with Heart: Man, Man (a gay couple). ðĻâðĐâðĶ is a family with a man, woman, and boy. Each is a ZWJ sequence: multiple codepoints joined by U+200D. They render as a single glyph on screen but carry the individual emojis inside.
See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.
How do you usually use ðĻ?
Select all that apply
- Man Emoji (Emojipedia) (emojipedia.org)
- Unicode 6.0 Emoji List (emojipedia.org)
- Emoji 11.0 (Hair Components) (emojipedia.org)
- Emoji ZWJ Sequence Catalog (emojipedia.org)
- iOS 13.2 Emoji Changelog (emojipedia.org)
- L2/16-317 Gender-Inclusive Emoji Proposal (unicode.org)
- Person Emoji (Emojipedia) (emojipedia.org)
- Google's Gender-Fluid Emoji Release (Fast Company) (fastcompany.com)
- Man: Beard Emoji (Emojipedia) (emojipedia.org)
- Father's Day Emoji (Emojipedia) (emojipedia.org)
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