Man Pouting Emoji
U+1F64E U+200D U+2642 U+FE0F:pouting_man:Skin tonesAbout Man Pouting 🙎♂️
Man Pouting () is part of the People & Body group in Unicode. Added in Unicode E4.0. Type on GitHub and Slack to use it. On Discord it's . 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 disappointed, downtrodden, frown, and 7 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?
A man with a frown, looking straight ahead, visibly displeased. Not enraged. Not crying. Just... pouting. The kind of face someone makes when they didn't get their way and they're not hiding it.
The man pouting emoji was added in Emoji 4.0 (2016) as part of a massive push to add gendered versions of existing person emojis. The original 🙎 (Person Pouting) had been around since Unicode 6.0 in 2010, sourced from Japanese carrier emoji sets, but it was gender-ambiguous. The 2016 update split dozens of person emojis into explicit male and female variants using ZWJ sequences, giving us 🙎♂️ and 🙎♀️.
Here's a naming confusion worth knowing: Unicode also has an emoji called "Pouting Face" (😡), which is the red angry face. Two completely different emojis with nearly identical names. 🙎♂️ is a person pouting. 😡 is a face that's pouting (though most people read it as furious). The person version is sulky. The face version is livid. Don't mix them up.
People use 🙎♂️ when they want to show they're annoyed or disappointed without escalating to full anger. It's the "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed" emoji, except with more sulk. Common in group chats when someone's plans get canceled, when a sports team loses, or when someone's being playfully dramatic about a minor inconvenience.
It reads as more childish or petulant than 😠 (angry face) or 😤 (face with steam). That's intentional. Pouting is performative displeasure. You're not trying to scare anyone. You're trying to make them feel a little bit guilty. In relationships, it often shows up in the "so you're not coming tonight?" conversation.
What it means from...
If your crush sends 🙎♂️, they're disappointed about something. Maybe you canceled plans, maybe they wanted more attention. The pout is a signal they want you to notice they're upset. It's low-key guilt-tripping, but in a cute way if the relationship is playful.
Classic relationship move. "You're going out with your friends instead of staying in?" 🙎♂️. It's the digital equivalent of crossing your arms and looking away. Usually not serious, but if it shows up repeatedly, it might be time for an actual conversation.
Friends use it for playful sulking. Plans changed? 🙎♂️. Someone ate the last slice? 🙎♂️. It's almost always lighthearted in friend groups and carries no real weight.
From family members, it's usually mild disappointment. Parents might use it when kids cancel visits. Siblings use it for petty complaints. Not a serious emotional signal in most family dynamics.
Avoid using pouting emojis in work settings. "I'm sulking because you disagreed with my proposal" is not a professional look. If it shows up in a work Slack, it's usually sarcastic or ironic.
From someone you don't know well, it's usually performative displeasure in comment sections or group contexts. "Still no update on this feature" 🙎♂️. Mildly demanding without being aggressive.
Flirty or friendly?
Pouting can be flirty in the right context. A playful "I miss you" 🙎♂️ is different from a genuine "I'm annoyed" 🙎♂️. The emoji itself is neutral, but when used in early-stage flirting, the pout often means "pay attention to me" rather than real displeasure.
- •🙎♂️ after you say you're busy = wants your attention, could be flirty
- •🙎♂️ during an argument about something real = genuinely upset, not flirting
- •🙎♂️ followed by 😏 or 😘 = playful pouting, likely flirty
- •🙎♂️ by itself with no context = could go either way, ask
He's pouting. Could be playful ("come on, don't be like that") or genuine ("I'm actually disappointed"). Context matters. If it follows a conversation about plans changing or feeling ignored, it's a bid for your attention. If it's surrounded by laughing emojis, it's playful.
She's using the male version either to describe someone else who's pouting or, less commonly, to represent a situation. More often, girls use 🙎♀️ for self-representation. If she sends 🙎♂️, she might be describing how someone (maybe you) is acting.
Acknowledge it. Pouting is a bid for attention and ignoring it makes things worse. A simple "what's wrong?" or "aw, what happened?" works. If it's clearly playful, match the energy with something like 😘 or "poor baby."
Emoji combos
The People Gesturing family
Origin story
The person pouting emoji (🙎) originated in Japanese carrier emoji sets in the late 2000s and was standardized in Unicode 6.0 in 2010 as "Person with Pouting Face." At the time, it was a single, gender-neutral character. Platform vendors like Apple and Google rendered it as female-presenting, which was common before the gender conversation caught up to emoji design.
In 2016, Unicode published a document proposing gendered ZWJ sequences that would give 88 person emojis explicit male and female variants. The Man Pouting emoji was part of this batch. It solved a real problem: the base 🙎 emoji was technically ungendered but looked female on most platforms, so there was no way to represent a man pouting. The ZWJ approach let vendors deploy the gendered versions without waiting for a full Unicode release.
The naming collision with 😡 (Pouting Face) has caused persistent confusion. "Person Pouting" (🙎) and "Pouting Face" (😡) sound like they should be related, but they express completely different emotions. 🙎 is sulky displeasure. 😡 is intense rage. The names are a historical artifact of how different emoji were named in the early Unicode era.
The base 🙎 Person Pouting was added in Unicode 6.0 (2010) as , originally named "Person with Pouting Face." It was sourced from Japanese carrier emoji sets (SoftBank). The gendered version 🙎♂️ was added in Emoji 4.0 (2016) as a ZWJ sequence: (Person Pouting) + (Zero Width Joiner) + (Male Sign) + (Variation Selector-16). It was part of a batch of 88 gendered ZWJ sequences that split previously gender-neutral person emojis into male and female variants.
Around the world
Pouting as a social behavior reads differently across cultures. In Western contexts, pouting is often perceived as childish or manipulative, especially in adults. The psychological literature frames it as a form of passive resistance: a way to express displeasure without directly confronting the issue.
In Japanese culture, pouting (mune, or more colloquially, being "pukkuri") can be endearing rather than negative, especially in manga and anime where characters puff their cheeks in frustration. The emoji's Japanese origins may explain why the expression is relatively mild, looking more sulky than aggressive.
The gendered version adds another layer. Research on the silent treatment in relationships shows it's used across genders, but cultural norms around men expressing vulnerability vary. In some contexts, a man pouting is seen as more acceptable when it's playful and less acceptable when it's genuine, because sulking conflicts with masculine expectations of directness.
Popularity ranking
Often confused with
This is the biggest emoji naming collision. 😡 is officially called "Pouting Face" (recently renamed to "Enraged Face" on some platforms), but it expresses intense rage, not a pout. 🙎♂️ is "Man Pouting" and expresses sulky displeasure. Completely different intensity levels, confusingly similar names.
This is the biggest emoji naming collision. 😡 is officially called "Pouting Face" (recently renamed to "Enraged Face" on some platforms), but it expresses intense rage, not a pout. 🙎♂️ is "Man Pouting" and expresses sulky displeasure. Completely different intensity levels, confusingly similar names.
Angry face (😠) is moderate anger. 🙎♂️ is pouting, which is sulky and often performative. Anger is directed outward. Pouting is directed inward. Use 😠 when you're mad at something. Use 🙎♂️ when you're making a show of being upset.
Angry face (😠) is moderate anger. 🙎♂️ is pouting, which is sulky and often performative. Anger is directed outward. Pouting is directed inward. Use 😠 when you're mad at something. Use 🙎♂️ when you're making a show of being upset.
Face with steam from nose (😤) conveys frustration, often with a sense of determination or triumph. 🙎♂️ is passive and sulky. 😤 says "I'm frustrated but powering through." 🙎♂️ says "I'm upset and I need you to notice."
Face with steam from nose (😤) conveys frustration, often with a sense of determination or triumph. 🙎♂️ is passive and sulky. 😤 says "I'm frustrated but powering through." 🙎♂️ says "I'm upset and I need you to notice."
Despite having similar names ("Person Pouting" vs "Pouting Face"), they express very different emotions. 🙎♂️ is sulky and relatively mild. 😡 is intense rage or fury. Use 🙎♂️ for disappointed sulking and 😡 for real anger.
Do's and don'ts
- ✗Use it repeatedly during a real argument (it reads as manipulative)
- ✗Send it in professional contexts (sulking isn't a workplace look)
- ✗Confuse it with 😡, which is way more intense
- ✗Ignore someone who sends it to you (pouting is a bid for attention, and ignoring it escalates)
It can be. Pouting is by definition expressing displeasure without direct confrontation. In text conversations, sending 🙎♂️ without explaining what's wrong can read as passive-aggressive. Pair it with words if you want to be understood.
Probably not. Pouting reads as immature or passive-aggressive in professional settings. If you're frustrated about a work situation, express it in words. Save the pouting emoji for friends and partners.
Caption ideas
Aesthetic sets
Type it as text
Fun facts
- •The 2016 gendered emoji batch that included 🙎♂️ added 88 ZWJ sequences at once, making it one of the largest single-batch emoji additions in Unicode history.
- •Unicode's naming of 🙎 ("Person Pouting") and 😡 ("Pouting Face") is one of the most confusing collisions in emoji naming. They express completely different emotions but sound like the same thing.
- •The original 🙎 was standardized from Japanese carrier emoji sets in 2010. On most platforms, it was rendered as a woman, so there was literally no way to represent a man pouting until 2016.
- •Pouting is studied in relationship psychology as a form of passive resistance. It's a way to express displeasure without direct confrontation, often rooted in unmet expectations.
Common misinterpretations
- •The biggest confusion: people mix up 🙎♂️ (man pouting, sulky) with 😡 (pouting face, enraged). The names are similar but the emotions are drastically different. If you mean furious, use 😡. If you mean sulking, use 🙎♂️.
- •Some recipients read 🙎♂️ as genuinely aggressive when the sender meant it playfully. The expression on the emoji is ambiguous enough that it can read as "mildly annoyed" or "seriously upset" depending on the recipient's mood.
- •In professional settings, 🙎♂️ can come across as immature or passive-aggressive, even when intended as lighthearted. Stick to face emojis (😐, 😕) in work contexts.
In pop culture
- •The 2016 gendered emoji update was covered as a milestone for emoji representation. Publications noted that many "gender-neutral" person emojis had been rendered as female for years, and giving them explicit male variants filled a gap that most users hadn't consciously noticed but immediately recognized once it was fixed.
Trivia
For developers
- •ZWJ sequence: + + + . Four code points.
- •Skin tone modifier goes after the base person: + + + + .
- •Watch for the naming collision: is "Person Pouting" (🙎), is "Pouting Face" (😡). Very different emojis, confusingly similar names.
- •Fallback on unsupported systems: 🙎♂️ (person pouting + male sign). Still readable.
- •Shortcodes: on Slack and Discord.
The gendered man pouting variant was added in Emoji 4.0 in 2016 as part of a batch of 88 gendered ZWJ sequences. The original gender-neutral 🙎 has been around since Unicode 6.0 (2010).
See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.
When do you use 🙎♂️?
Select all that apply
- Man Pouting (Emojipedia)
- Person Pouting (Emojipedia)
- Gendered Emojis Coming In 2016 (Emojipedia Blog)
- U+1F64E Person with Pouting Face (Codepoints)
- Psychology of Pouting (Neurolaunch)
- Pouting Behavior in Adults (Neurolaunch)
- Silent treatment in relationships (Psychology Today)
- 6 Different Emojis That Express Anger (Nerdbot)
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