Man: Beard Emoji
U+1F9D4 U+200D U+2642 U+FE0F:man_beard:Skin tonesAbout Man: Beard ๐งโโ๏ธ
Man: Beard () is part of the People & Body group in Unicode. Added in Unicode E13.1. 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.
Often associated with beard, bearded, man, and 1 more keywords.
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?
The man with beard emoji shows a male face with a full beard, and it's used exactly how you'd expect: talking about beards, showing off facial hair, or referencing someone who has one. But it carries more weight than just "guy with hair on his face." In texting, ๐งโโ๏ธ signals a certain kind of masculine energy: rugged, mature, maybe a little hipster. It's the emoji equivalent of saying "he looks like he chops wood on weekends."
The emoji also shows up in No-Shave November and Movember posts every year, in NHL playoff beard updates, and whenever someone wants to indicate that a man is attractive in a lumberjack-adjacent way. There's a reason Craig Jones ran a Change.org petition with over 32,000 signatures to get this emoji added. People wanted it badly enough to campaign for it.
You'll find ๐งโโ๏ธ in beard progress posts, grooming product reviews, and dating app bios. It's popular in November when both No-Shave November and Movember drive facial hair content across every platform. During NHL playoffs, hockey fans use it alongside team hashtags to track their playoff beard journeys.
In dating contexts, sending ๐งโโ๏ธ or receiving it in response to a selfie is a compliment. It reads as "you look good with that beard" or "I'm into bearded men." On TikTok, beard glow-up videos (before/after shaving or growing) frequently use the emoji in captions. In LGBTQ+ communities, "beard" has a separate meaning (someone used as a false romantic partner to conceal orientation), and the emoji occasionally nods to that usage too.
It represents a man with a beard. In texting, it's used to talk about beards, compliment someone's facial hair, reference beard culture (No-Shave November, grooming), or signal a masculine or rugged aesthetic. It's straightforward: if beards are the topic, this is the emoji.
What it means from...
If your crush sends ๐งโโ๏ธ after you posted a photo or talked about growing a beard, that's a compliment. They're telling you the facial hair works. If they use it to describe someone else ("my type is ๐งโโ๏ธ"), pay attention to whether you match that description.
Between partners, it's usually about their actual beard. "Don't shave ๐งโโ๏ธ" or "you looked better with the beard ๐งโโ๏ธ" are common. It's a grooming preference emoji. Sometimes it's playful teasing about how scratchy the beard is.
Friends use it to hype up someone's beard game. "Looking good bro ๐งโโ๏ธ" in response to a selfie. Also shows up in group chats during November when everyone's doing No-Shave. It's a solidarity emoji.
From family, it's usually about appearance. "Dad's beard is out of control ๐งโโ๏ธ" or commenting on a relative's new look. Harmless observation.
Rare in professional contexts. If a coworker uses it, they're probably commenting on someone's appearance in a casual Slack message. "Our new VP looks like ๐งโโ๏ธ" is about as deep as it gets.
On dating apps, ๐งโโ๏ธ in a bio signals that either they have a beard and are proud of it, or they're looking for someone who does. On social media from a stranger, it's usually a compliment on a photo.
Flirty or friendly?
Context-dependent. ๐งโโ๏ธ on its own is neutral (just means bearded man). But ๐งโโ๏ธ๐ฅต or ๐งโโ๏ธ๐ is clearly attraction. In a dating app conversation, even a standalone ๐งโโ๏ธ leans flirty because you're both already in that context.
- โข๐งโโ๏ธ in response to your selfie? They like the beard. Probably flirty.
- โข๐งโโ๏ธ in a general conversation about grooming? Friendly, just topical.
- โข๐งโโ๏ธ paired with heart eyes or fire? That's attraction.
- โข๐งโโ๏ธ in a group chat during November? Solidarity. Not romantic.
When a girl sends ๐งโโ๏ธ, she's usually telling you she likes beards or complimenting yours specifically. If it comes after you posted a selfie with facial hair, take it as a compliment. If she puts it in her dating app bio, she's advertising her type.
From a guy, it's usually about his own beard (proud of it, growing it out, asking if he should shave) or complimenting another man's beard in a platonic way. Context matters: in November it's likely about No-Shave November, during hockey playoffs it's about the playoff beard tradition.
Emoji combos
Origin story
The beard emoji has one of the more grassroots origin stories in emoji history. In 2015, Craig Jones launched beardemoji.com and a Change.org petition calling on the Unicode Consortium to add a beard emoji. The petition gathered 32,483 supporters. Jones submitted a formal proposal (L2/16-260) in 2016, arguing that beards "have been grown in many lengths, shapes and colors since the existence of man" and that the emoji would be used by "men with beards, pogonophiles, barbers, the beard care industry, and facial hair models."
Unicode accepted the character as part of Unicode 10.0 in June 2017, naming it "Bearded Person" (gender-neutral). It shipped on phones later that year. The gendered variants (๐งโโ๏ธ Man: Beard and ๐งโโ๏ธ Woman: Beard) came in Emoji 13.1 (2020), part of a Unicode push to make every person emoji available in gender-neutral, male, and female versions.
The ๐งโโ๏ธ Woman: Beard variant was notable. Unicode's proposal document (L2/19-391) noted that "beards have been indiscriminate of gender throughout history" and cited conditions like PCOS (affecting 1 in 10 women) and hirsutism as reasons for inclusion. The decision drew both praise for representation and predictable backlash from people who hadn't read the proposal.
Craig Jones submitted L2/16-260 in 2016 for a beard emoji. Accepted in Unicode 10.0 (2017). Gendered ZWJ variants proposed in L2/19-391 (2019), added in Emoji 13.1 (2020).
The base ๐ง Person: Beard was approved in Unicode 10.0 (2017) as part of Emoji 5.0. The gendered variant ๐งโโ๏ธ Man: Beard was added in Emoji 13.1 (2020) as a ZWJ sequence: (Person: Beard) + (Zero Width Joiner) + (Male Sign) + (Variation Selector-16). The woman variant ๐งโโ๏ธ was added simultaneously, making this one of the few emoji groups where the gendered variants came years after the base character.
Design history
- 2015Craig Jones launches beardemoji.com and a petition with 32,000+ signatures
- 2016Formal proposal L2/16-260 submitted to Unicode Consortiumโ
- 2017๐ง Bearded Person approved in Unicode 10.0, Emoji 5.0
- 2019Twitter becomes first major platform to render ๐ง in a gender-neutral way
- 2020๐งโโ๏ธ Man: Beard and ๐งโโ๏ธ Woman: Beard added in Emoji 13.1โ
- 2022Samsung swaps designs between Person: Beard and Man: Beard, confusing users briefly
Around the world
Beards carry profound meaning across religions. In Islam, growing a beard is Sunnah (following the Prophet Muhammad's example). In Sikhism), uncut hair (kesh) including the beard is one of the Five Ks, articles of faith ordered by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. In Amish communities, married men wear beards while shaving the mustache. In Judaism, Leviticus 19:27 instructs men not to "cut the corners of their beards." Because of these associations, the emoji can carry religious significance depending on who's using it and in what context. In Western countries, beards cycled through being countercultural (1960s-70s), professional (conservative), and then trendy again with the lumbersexual movement of the mid-2010s.
The emoji itself is consistent across cultures, but beards carry different significance. In Islam, growing a beard follows the Prophet Muhammad's Sunnah. In Sikhism, uncut hair is one of the Five Ks of faith. In Amish communities, married men wear beards. In secular Western culture, beards cycled from countercultural to hipster trendy to mainstream over the past few decades.
Popularity ranking
Often confused with
The gender-neutral ๐ง Person: Beard and the male ๐งโโ๏ธ Man: Beard look nearly identical on most platforms. The difference is in the ZWJ sequence (man version includes the male sign). Samsung swapped their designs in 2022, briefly making things more confusing.
The gender-neutral ๐ง Person: Beard and the male ๐งโโ๏ธ Man: Beard look nearly identical on most platforms. The difference is in the ZWJ sequence (man version includes the male sign). Samsung swapped their designs in 2022, briefly making things more confusing.
๐ง is the gender-neutral "Person: Beard" (added 2017). ๐งโโ๏ธ is "Man: Beard" (added 2020), which uses a ZWJ sequence to specify male gender. On most platforms they look nearly identical, which is why Samsung's 2022 design swap between the two caused brief confusion.
Do's and don'ts
- โUse it to compliment someone's beard or discuss facial hair
- โPair with November hashtags for No-Shave November / Movember posts
- โUse in sports contexts for playoff beard updates
- โDon't use it as a generic male person emoji when ๐จ exists for that
- โBe aware of religious significance in conversations with observant Muslims, Sikhs, or Amish
- โDon't send it unsolicited as commentary on someone's appearance to someone you don't know well
It's safe in casual workplace contexts like Slack. Commenting on a coworker's new beard with a ๐งโโ๏ธ in a casual channel is fine. Just be mindful that beards have religious significance for some people, so don't use it to characterize someone whose facial hair is part of their faith.
Caption ideas
Aesthetic sets
Type it as text
Fun facts
- โขThe base ๐ง was originally called "Bearded Person" in Unicode 10.0 (2017). The gendered variants didn't arrive until Emoji 13.1 (2020), meaning for three years the only beard emoji was gender-neutral.
- โขUnicode's proposal for ๐งโโ๏ธ Woman: Beard cited PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), which affects 1 in 10 women and can cause facial hair growth, as a reason for the emoji's inclusion.
- โขApple's design gives the bearded man yellow/dirty-blonde hair. Google and Microsoft went for what Dictionary.com called a "more Cro-Magnon look" with the beard and hair fusing into one thick mass.
- โข"Pogonophile" (someone who loves beards) was a key term in Craig Jones's Unicode proposal. He argued that beard lovers, not just beard havers, would use the emoji.
Common misinterpretations
- โขOn older devices, the ZWJ sequence may not render as a single emoji. Instead of seeing one bearded man, the recipient might see ๐งโ๏ธ as two separate symbols. This is a platform issue, not a user error.
- โขIn some cultures, commenting on someone's beard carries religious weight. Using ๐งโโ๏ธ casually about someone whose beard is a religious expression (Sikh, Muslim, Amish) can come across as reductive.
In pop culture
- โขThe NHL playoff beard tradition is one of sports' most visible superstitions. It traces to the 1980s New York Islanders dynasty and has spread to MLB, the NFL, and fan culture. The emoji is a staple of playoff social media posts.
- โขThe "lumbersexual" trend of the mid-2010s, where urban men adopted beards, flannels, and outdoorsy aesthetics, drove beard culture mainstream and created the demand that led to Craig Jones's petition.
- โขNo-Shave November (started 2009, US) and Movember (started 2003, Australia) turn facial hair into charity fundraising every year. The beard emoji peaks in usage during November across all platforms.
Trivia
For developers
- โขZWJ sequence: + + + . Four code points for one visible emoji.
- โขString length is deceptive. In JavaScript, returns 5 due to surrogate pairs and the ZWJ. Use for grapheme count (still 4 code points, but closer to the visible count).
- โขShortcodes: on GitHub, on Slack. CLDR short name: .
- โขSkin tone modifiers insert between the person base and the ZWJ: for light skin tone variant. This can catch parsing code off guard.
Yes. ๐งโโ๏ธ Woman: Beard was added in Emoji 13.1 (2020) alongside ๐งโโ๏ธ. Unicode's proposal cited conditions like PCOS (affecting 1 in 10 women) and hirsutism as reasons for inclusion. It's supported on Apple, Google, and most modern platforms.
Craig Jones campaigned for it starting in 2015 with a Change.org petition (32,483 signatures) and a website (beardemoji.com). He submitted formal proposal L2/16-260 in 2016, arguing it would serve beard growers, beard lovers (pogonophiles), barbers, and the grooming industry. Unicode accepted it in 2017.
See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.
What comes to mind when you see ๐งโโ๏ธ?
Select all that apply
- Man: Beard Emoji (emojipedia.org)
- Bearded Person Emoji Meaning (dictionary.com)
- Craig Jones Beard Emoji Proposal (L2/16-260) (unicode.org)
- Man with Beard and Woman with Beard for Unicode 14.0 (L2/19-391) (unicode.org)
- 217 New Emojis In Final List For 2021 (blog.emojipedia.org)
- Petition for Beard Emoji (techtimes.com)
- Playoff Beards: Hockey's Wackiest Tradition (espn.com)
- Movember (wikipedia.org)
- Beards in Religion (beardcouragement.com)
- Top Emojis of 2024 (meltwater.com)
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