Open Hands Emoji

Two open hands, palms facing outward. 👐 is the jazz hands emoji, the ta-da gesture, and the silent round of applause all at once.

At its core, 👐 represents openness. In body language research, showing open palms is one of the strongest trust signals humans produce. The exposed wrist, with its vulnerable veins, communicates "I don't need to protect myself from you." Allan Pease's studies found that audiences rate speakers using palm-up gestures as more credible, even when the verbal content is identical. Courts use the same instinct: witnesses raise their right hand with palm visible when taking an oath. 👐 taps into this ancient signal.

The theatrical reading is louder. "Jazz hands" (palms out, fingers splayed, shaking rapidly) became a staple of Broadway choreography through Bob Fosse, who featured them in the opening number of *Pippin* (1972)). In that show, illuminated jazz hands in darkness are the first thing the audience sees. The gesture's roots run deeper, likely tracing back through vaudeville to African dance traditions.

In British Sign Language (BSL), waving both hands in the air IS applause. Deaf communities developed this visual alternative to clapping because praise should be visible, not just audible.

Approved in Unicode 6.0 (2010) as U+1F450U+1F450 OPEN HANDS SIGN.

👐 is celebration with flair. Less restrained than 👏, more theatrical than 🙌. It's the emoji of someone who can't contain their excitement and needs both hands to express it.

"Ta-da! 👐" is the signature use: presenting something you've made, sharing a reveal, or announcing news with a flourish. The gesture says "look at what I've got" with performative energy.

In worship and praise contexts, 👐 shows up in church social media, Instagram prayer posts, and Christian community hashtags. The orans posture, which involves open hands raised with palms outward, dates back to early Christianity and represents lifting one's soul to God. 👐 is the closest emoji to this ancient gesture.

In American Sign Language, open hands moving outward can mean "open" or "book" (miming opening a book's covers). But in texting, the theatrical meaning dominates.

The emoji got unexpected attention in 2018 when Elon Musk tweeted that he'd "just realized there is a jazz hands emoji" with 🤗 attached. Jeremy Burge from Emojipedia corrected him: that's the hugging face, not jazz hands. The real jazz hands emoji is 👐. The confusion highlighted a gap: 🤗 looked like jazz hands to many people, and 👐 wasn't well-known enough to fill the role.

The open-palm gesture is ancient. In the Psalms, "spread or stretch out the hands" (pāraś kappayim) is the most common Hebrew idiom for prayer. Early Christians adopted the orans posture: palms outward, arms raised, representing receiving grace and lifting the soul to God. They saw the position as echoing Christ on the Cross. Courts still use a version: witnesses raise a palm while swearing to tell the truth.

Jazz hands as a performance move have murkier roots. Atlas Obscura traced them through African dance traditions, vaudeville, and minstrelsy into modern musical theater. Bob Fosse didn't invent jazz hands, but he made them iconic. His 1972 Pippin opens with illuminated jazz hands floating in darkness: the first image the audience sees is splayed fingers lit from below as the Leading Player (Ben Vereen) launches into "Magic to Do." Fosse's style (splayed gloved fingers, bowler hats, turned-in knees, shoulder rolls) defined Broadway choreography for a generation. Every jazz hands emoji carries a trace of that opening number.

The emoji arrived in Unicode 6.0 (2010) as U+1F450U+1F450 OPEN HANDS SIGN. Skin tone modifiers followed in Emoji 2.0 (2015). It lives in the shadow of better-known hand emojis (🙌, 👏, 🤗), but it's the only one that specifically captures the palms-out, presenting gesture.

In BSL (British Sign Language), waving both hands in the air IS applause. Deaf communities wave rather than clap because praise should be visible, not just audible. You can see whether silent applause is widespread or just a pocket, which you can't with clapping alone.

This became national news in 2018 when Manchester University's student union voted to encourage BSL clapping (jazz hands) instead of audible clapping at events, citing accessibility for students with autism and sensory processing issues. Oxford followed in 2019. Both policies sparked international controversy. The National Autistic Society's Carol Povey said she understood the reasoning, as "many autistic people experience sensory overload," but the organization didn't advocate an outright clapping ban.

In religious contexts, the orans posture (open palms raised) is specifically Christian. In Islam, open palms face upward during du'a (personal prayer). In Hinduism, the anjali mudra brings palms together rather than apart. The gesture that 👐 represents sits in a specific cultural lane.

• •Elon Musk tweeted in 2018 that he'd found the jazz hands emoji, attaching 🤗 instead of 👐. Jeremy Burge from Emojipedia corrected him. iOS was auto-suggesting 🤗 when users typed "jazz hands," adding to the confusion.
• •Bob Fosse's Pippin (1972) opens with illuminated jazz hands floating in darkness): the first thing the audience sees. The show's TV commercial, featuring three dancers doing jazz hands, may have been the first time the gesture appeared on the small screen.
• •In BSL (British Sign Language), waving hands IS applause. Deaf communities wave rather than clap because praise should be visible, not just audible.
• •Manchester University (2018) and Oxford (2019) encouraged BSL jazz hands instead of clapping at events, for students with autism and sensory issues. The story went global.
• •Body language research shows speakers using palm-up gestures are rated more credible and trustworthy. The exposed inner wrist is a vulnerability signal: "I don't need to protect myself from you." Courts use the same instinct in oath-taking.
• •The earliest Christian prayer gesture (orans) is exactly the 👐 position: palms outward, arms raised. Early Christians saw it as echoing Christ on the Cross. 2nd-century catacomb paintings depict it.
• •Jazz hands' roots likely trace back through vaudeville to African dance traditions. The exact origin is murky, but the gesture traveled from African-American jazz dance into mainstream Broadway through performers and choreographers.

• •The biggest confusion: 👐 vs 🤗. Many people (including Elon Musk) think 🤗 is jazz hands. It's not. 🤗 is a hug. 👐 is jazz hands. The visual similarity causes persistent mix-ups.
• •Some people read 👐 as aggressive "talk to the hand" energy. It's not. The palms-out gesture in 👐 is welcoming/presenting, not blocking. For the "stop" gesture, use ✋ or 🤚.
• •In worship contexts, 👐 can read as specifically Christian (orans posture). Using it in interfaith settings might unintentionally signal a particular tradition.

• •**Bob Fosse's Pippin (1972)** — The opening number "Magic to Do") starts with illuminated jazz hands floating in darkness, the first thing the audience sees. Atlas Obscura traced jazz hands from African dance traditions through vaudeville into Fosse's iconic Broadway style. Every 👐 carries a trace of that opening night.
• •Elon Musk's 🤗 confusion (2018) — Musk tweeted he'd found the jazz hands emoji, attaching 🤗 instead. Emojipedia's Jeremy Burge corrected him. The real jazz hands emoji (👐) was apparently too obscure for the CEO of Tesla to find.
• •Manchester/Oxford clapping controversy (2018-2019) — Manchester University's student union voted to replace clapping with BSL jazz hands for autism accessibility. Oxford followed. The story went global and turned 👐 into a flashpoint for debates about inclusion, sensory sensitivity, and political correctness.
• •BSL silent applause — In Deaf communities worldwide, waving both hands in the air replaces clapping. The gesture predates the emoji and gives 👐 a meaning that most hearing emoji users don't know about: visual, silent praise.
• •The orans posture — The earliest Christian prayer gesture involves open palms facing outward, exactly like 👐. Early Christians saw it as echoing Christ on the Cross. The gesture appears in catacomb paintings from the 2nd century.

• •Codepoint: U+1F450U+1F450. Unicode name: OPEN HANDS SIGN. Part of Unicode 6.0 (2010).
• •Skin tone modifiers supported: U+1F450 U+1F3FBU+1F450 U+1F3FB through U+1F450 U+1F3FFU+1F450 U+1F3FF. Added in Emoji 2.0 (2015).
• •Common shortcodes: :open_hands::open_hands: (Slack, Discord, GitHub). Some platforms also accept :jazz_hands::jazz_hands: as an alias.
• •Don't confuse with U+1F932U+1F932 (🤲 palms up together). That's palms facing UP (receiving). 👐 is palms facing OUT (presenting).

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