Pisces Emoji

The Pisces zodiac symbol for those born February 19 through March 20. The glyph shows two curved vertical lines connected by a horizontal bar, representing two fish swimming in opposite directions, tied together by a cord. That image comes directly from the Greek myth of Aphrodite and Eros being transformed into fish by Zeus to escape the monster Typhon, then tied together so they wouldn't lose each other in the river.

Pisces is the 12th and final sign of the zodiac, which gives it a particular weight in astrological thinking. As the last sign, it's associated with endings, the subconscious, and spiritual completion. The 12th house that Pisces rules is called the house of secrets, dealing with dreams, intuition, karma, and everything beneath the surface.

But online, ♓ is mostly about identity and memes. Pisces has the most brutal internet reputation of any zodiac sign. The memes are relentless: crying at everything, drowning in feelings, emotionally chaotic, and the inability to live in reality for more than five minutes. Pisces men specifically get dragged as "giant babies, ghosters, gaslighters, and toxic emotional vampires" in astrology TikTok. Whether that's fair is debatable, but it's the sign's defining online personality.

♓ shows up in bios, dating profiles, and birthday posts during Pisces season (late February to late March). It's the zodiac sign emoji you're most likely to see paired with emotional or dreamy aesthetics: water symbols, fish, moons, and sparkles.

The meme culture around Pisces is particularly active on TikTok, where #pisces has billions of views. Content ranges from personality callouts ("Pisces energy is crying because your plant looks sad") to compatibility debates to the ongoing discourse about whether Pisces men are datable. The "Pisces men red flags" trend generated thousands of videos in 2023-2024.

During Pisces season, astrology accounts flood every platform with season-specific memes and horoscopes. Like all zodiac emojis, ♓ rides the astrology boom that's turned signs into personality shorthand for 80% of Gen Z and Millennials.

The two fish of Pisces have been swimming through mythology for over 4,000 years. The constellation appears as early as 2300 BC on an Egyptian coffin lid), and it shows up in ancient Babylonian cuneiform tablets and Chinese texts.

The most famous origin story is Greek. Aphrodite and her son Eros were walking along the Euphrates River when the monster Typhon appeared. Zeus transformed them both into fish so they could escape into the water. He tied them together with a cord so they wouldn't be separated in the current, then threw them into the river. Athena later placed the fish among the stars. The ♓ glyph is a stylized version of those two fish, connected by the horizontal bar representing the cord.

But the myth has even older roots. In Syria, the story traces back to Atagartis, a goddess of love and fertility depicted as half-woman, half-fish. She's believed to be the inspiration for the Greek Aphrodite. The fish in Syrian mythology were called Ichthyes, and they helped save Ashtarte (the Syrian Aphrodite) by carrying her down the Euphrates.

There's also a fascinating religious connection. The Age of Pisces in astrological reckoning began around 1 AD, coinciding with the birth of Christianity. The Greek word for fish, "ΙΧΘΥΣ" (Ichthys), was used by early Christians as an acronym for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." Jesus called his disciples "fishers of men," early Christians called themselves "little fishes," and Tertullian wrote that Christians "are born in the water." The fish became Christianity's secret symbol. Whether the astrological timing was coincidence or cosmic design depends on your belief system, but the overlap between the Age of Pisces and the rise of the fish as a sacred symbol is hard to ignore.

Added to Unicode 1.1 in 1993 as U+2653U+2653 PISCES, alongside all 12 Western zodiac symbols in the Miscellaneous Symbols block. Existed as a plain text character for over two decades before being promoted to emoji in Emoji 1.0 (2015). Japanese carrier Docomo included all zodiac symbols in their late-1990s emoji set, and the Sharp PA-8500 word processor (1988) had zodiac icons before Unicode even existed.

1. -2300Pisces constellation appears on an Egyptian coffin lid, among the earliest known depictions↗
2. -500Greek myth of Aphrodite and Eros transforming into fish to escape Typhon becomes the primary origin story
3. 1The Age of Pisces begins in astrological reckoning, coinciding with the rise of Christianity and the ichthys fish symbol↗
4. 1988Sharp PA-8500 word processor includes Western zodiac icons before Unicode↗
5. 1993Unicode 1.1 encodes all 12 zodiac symbols including U+2653 PISCES↗
6. 2015Promoted to emoji in Emoji 1.0↗

Pisces has a unique cross-cultural reach because of the Christianity connection. In predominantly Christian countries, the fish symbol carries religious weight that other zodiac signs don't have. The ichthys (fish) bumper sticker and the ♓ zodiac glyph point to different things, but they share a mythological ancestor.

In India, Vedic astrology uses a sidereal zodiac, so the dates don't align exactly with Western Pisces. The Vedic equivalent is Meena rashi, which carries similar watery, intuitive associations but within a different interpretive framework. Astrology is deeply woven into Indian daily life, marriages, and business decisions in ways that go far beyond the Western horoscope-in-the-magazine tradition.

In China, Japan, and Korea, Western zodiac signs are secondary to the Chinese zodiac (based on birth year, not month). A Western Pisces might be a Dragon or Rabbit in the Chinese system. Western astrology has been gaining ground in East Asia through apps like Co-Star, but it's still newer territory.

In Latin America and parts of Europe, Pisces season overlaps with Carnival season in many countries, which means birthday celebrations get mixed into one of the year's biggest cultural events. Brazilian Pisces, in particular, have their birthdays competing with Carnaval for attention.

• •The Pisces constellation appears on an Egyptian coffin lid from around 2300 BC), making it one of the oldest recognized star patterns in human history.
• •Rihanna's very first tattoo was the ♓ Pisces glyph behind her right ear, done in Tokyo when she was 17. Justin Bieber also has Pisces fish scales tattooed on his arm.
• •The Greek word for fish, "ΙΧΘΥΣ" (Ichthys), was used by early Christians as a secret acronym for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." The fish bumper sticker and the Pisces zodiac share a mythological ancestor.
• •The Age of Pisces began around 1 AD and runs until roughly 2150 AD. The entire history of Christianity has occurred during the fish's astrological era.
• •Pisces is the only zodiac sign whose glyph literally tells a story: the two vertical curves are the fish, and the horizontal bar is the cord Zeus used to tie Aphrodite and Eros together so they wouldn't be separated in the river.
• •The mythology behind Pisces has roots in Syrian culture older than the Greek version. Atagartis, a half-woman half-fish goddess of love, is thought to be the original inspiration, predating Aphrodite.

• •Sending ♓ to someone who doesn't follow astrology reads as a random symbol. Outside astrology circles, the glyph isn't recognizable the way ♈ (Aries' ram) or ♌ (Leo's lion symbolism) might be.
• •Using ♓ to explain emotional behavior ("sorry I cried at the commercial, I'm a Pisces") can come across as avoiding accountability. The meme is funny in astrology spaces; it's less funny when used as an actual excuse.
• •Don't confuse the ♓ glyph with the Christian ichthys symbol. While they share ancient roots, using ♓ in a religious context or the fish symbol in an astrology context will confuse both audiences.

• •Rihanna (born February 20) is the most famous celebrity Pisces and proudly displays it. Her very first tattoo was the ♓ glyph behind her right ear, done in Tokyo at age 17. Multiple astrology outlets have linked her artistic fluidity and emotional range to Pisces traits.
• •The "Pisces men are red flags" discourse became one of TikTok's biggest astrology trends in 2023-2024. Thousands of videos under #PiscesMenRedFlags warn about emotional inconsistency, ghosting, and escapism. Mel Magazine published a defense piece calling the stereotypes of Pisces men as "giant babies, ghosters, gaslighters, and toxic emotional vampires" reductive.
• •The Christian fish symbol (ichthys) and the Pisces zodiac sign share ancient mythology. Both trace to fish-related symbolism that predates Christianity, and the coincidence that the Age of Pisces began around the birth of Jesus has been analyzed by theologians, astrologers, and historians for centuries. Carl Jung wrote extensively about this overlap.
• •The 1967 musical Hair featured "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" about the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the astrological age that follows Pisces. The song became a counterculture anthem and remains one of the most famous references to astrological ages in pop culture.

• •U+2653U+2653. Part of the Miscellaneous Symbols block. All 12 zodiac emojis occupy U+2648U+2648 through U+2653U+2653, with Pisces as the last one (fitting for the last zodiac sign).
• •On Slack and Discord: :pisces::pisces:. No native GitHub shortcode, use the Unicode character directly.
• •Adding U+FE0FU+FE0F (variation selector-16) forces emoji presentation: U+2653 U+FE0FU+2653 U+FE0F. Without it, some platforms render it as a text glyph.

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