Turkey Emoji

A turkey, shown with its distinctive red wattle, snood, and fanned tail feathers. Approved in Unicode 8.0 (2015) as part of a batch of new animal emojis.

The turkey is the only animal that made an entire country change its name. In 2022, Turkey officially rebranded to Türkiye at the United Nations, partly to escape the association with a bird that isn't even from there. The irony: the English name "turkey" came from a case of mistaken identity in the 1500s, when European traders confused the bird with guineafowl imported through Ottoman trade routes) and called it a "turkey-cock."

But it gets better. Almost every language in the world named this bird after a different wrong country. Turkish calls it hindi (from India). French shortened coq d'Inde to dinde (also India). Portuguese calls it peru. Greek calls it galopoula (French bird). Arabic calls it dik rumi (Roman chicken). Malay calls it ayam Belanda (Dutch chicken). It's a global game of geographic hot potato where nobody can figure out where the bird actually comes from. The answer is North America. It's always been North America.

Usage spikes massively around US Thanksgiving in November. On Instagram and Twitter/X, 🦃 appears in Thanksgiving dinner posts, fall harvest content, turkey recipes, and the annual "gobble gobble" energy. It's one of the most seasonal emojis in the entire Unicode set, with almost no usage from January through September.

Outside the US, the emoji barely registers. Thanksgiving is uniquely American (Canada's version is in October and much lower-key), so 🦃 reads as an Americanism in international contexts. British, European, and Asian users almost never reach for it.

The insult meaning ("you turkey," meaning foolish or incompetent) has faded somewhat but still exists. It's a mild, grandparent-level insult that nobody takes seriously. In gaming communities, "turkey" still means three consecutive strikes in bowling.

The turkey is native to North America), where it was domesticated by Indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica around 800 BC. When Spanish explorers brought the bird back to Europe in the early 1500s, nobody could agree on what to call it or where it came from, and the naming chaos that followed has never been resolved.

English speakers called it a "turkey" because they confused it with guineafowl that arrived in England via Ottoman (Turkish) trade routes. At the time, exotic goods from Ottoman territories were generically labeled "Turkish" the way we might say "Chinese" for unfamiliar imports today. The name stuck even after people realized it was a completely different bird from a completely different continent.

Benjamin Franklin famously criticized the bald eagle in an 1784 letter to his daughter, calling it "a Bird of bad moral Character" and praising the turkey as "a much more respectable Bird." He didn't formally propose the turkey as the national bird (that's a myth), but the letter is real and extremely entertaining. He called the eagle a coward that steals fish from hawks.

The presidential turkey pardoning tradition started informally. The National Turkey Federation has presented turkeys to presidents since 1947 under Truman (who ate them). The first formal "pardon" was by George H.W. Bush in 1989. Every president since has continued the tradition, complete with dad jokes.

An estimated 46 million turkeys are consumed on Thanksgiving Day alone. Americans spend nearly $1 billion on festive birds each November. And the Turkey Trot, a Thanksgiving morning 5K race, dates to 1896 in Buffalo, New York, making it one of America's oldest organized running events.

1. -800Indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica domesticate the turkey
2. 1519Spanish explorers bring turkeys to Europe, naming confusion begins immediately
3. 1784Benjamin Franklin praises the turkey over the 'cowardly' bald eagle in a letter↗
4. 1896First Turkey Trot 5K held in Buffalo, New York↗
5. 1940Wild Turkey bourbon named after the bird following a hunting trip
6. 1947National Turkey Federation begins presenting turkeys to US presidents
7. 1989George H.W. Bush issues first formal presidential turkey pardon↗
8. 2015🦃 Turkey emoji approved in Unicode 8.0↗
9. 2022Turkey officially rebrands to Türkiye at the UN, partly to escape bird association↗

In the United States, the turkey is Thanksgiving incarnate. 87% of hosts serve it, 46 million are consumed in one day, and the presidential pardoning ceremony is a bipartisan tradition of awkward dad jokes that transcends politics. The Turkey Trot 5K, dating to 1896, draws over 50,000 runners nationally. Thanksgiving is the turkey's entire personality in American culture.

In Türkiye (the country), the bird is called hindi and carries no special cultural weight. The 2022 rebrand from Turkey to Türkiye was partly to distance the nation from the bird, since Googling "Turkey" returned a mix of geopolitics and poultry recipes. President Erdoğan's "Hello Türkiye" campaign emphasized national dignity.

In Japan and Korea, the turkey is called 七面鳥 (shichimenchō / chilmyeonjo), meaning "seven-faced bird," a reference to the turkey's ability to change the colors of its head and neck skin) based on mood. It shifts between red, white, blue, and pink. Why specifically "seven" faces is a minor linguistic mystery.

In much of the Muslim world, the turkey is called some variation of "Roman chicken" (dik rumi in Arabic), linking it to the Byzantine Empire. In parts of India, it's called peru, borrowed from Portuguese, creating a cross-continental naming chain: the Portuguese named it after Peru, then exported the word to India, which has no historical connection to either turkeys or Peru.

• •An estimated 46 million turkeys are eaten on Thanksgiving Day alone, with Americans spending nearly $1 billion on the birds. Per capita consumption has dropped 28% since 1996, from 26.8 to 19.3 pounds per person.
• •Turkey the country rebranded to Türkiye at the United Nations in 2022, partly to escape the bird association. Someone on Change.org then petitioned to rename the bird "Türkiye" too.
• •In Japanese and Korean, the turkey is called "seven-faced bird" (七面鳥) because its head and neck skin changes colors) between red, white, blue, and pink depending on mood. Why specifically "seven" is unclear.
• •The Turkey Trot dates to 1896 in Buffalo, New York, making it one of America's oldest organized races. Six people ran the first one. Now over 50,000 runners participate nationally each Thanksgiving morning.
• •Benjamin Franklin called the bald eagle "a Bird of bad moral Character" and praised the turkey as "a true original Native of America." He never formally proposed the turkey as the national bird, but the letter (to his daughter in 1784) is real.
• •Wild Turkey bourbon was named in 1940 when an executive brought bourbon samples on a hunting trip. His friends kept asking for "that wild turkey bourbon." The distillery's master distiller, Jimmy Russell, has held the role since 1967.

• •Using 🦃 outside of November in the US reads as either a mild insult ("you turkey") or a bowling reference (three strikes). If you're posting turkey recipes in July, you'll get confused reactions.
• •The insult "you turkey" is extremely mild. It's the kind of thing a sitcom character's grandfather would say. Don't use it expecting it to land with any real force.

• •Benjamin Franklin's 1784 letter — Franklin called the bald eagle "a Bird of bad moral Character" that "does not get his Living honestly" because it steals fish from hawks. He praised the turkey as "a much more respectable Bird" and "a true original Native of America." He didn't formally propose it as the national bird (that's a myth), but the letter is real and hilarious.
• •The Türkiye rebrand (2022) — Turkey officially changed its name to Türkiye at the United Nations, partly because the bird association undermined national dignity. Googling "Turkey" returned a mix of geopolitics and Butterball recipes. A country changed its international identity because of a 500-year-old case of mistaken poultry identity.
• •Presidential turkey pardoning (1989-present) — George H.W. Bush formalized the tradition in 1989. Every president since has issued a ceremonial pardon complete with dad jokes. The tradition is bipartisan, corny, and unstoppable.
• •Wild Turkey bourbon (1940) — Named when an Austin Nichols executive brought warehouse samples on a wild turkey hunting trip. Friends kept asking for "that wild turkey bourbon." Jimmy Russell, the "Buddha of Bourbon," has been master distiller since 1967.
• •The Turkey Trot (1896-present) — The Thanksgiving morning 5K race dates to 1896 in Buffalo, New York, making it one of America's oldest organized running events. Six people ran the first one. Now over 50,000 participate nationally, 76% of races are charity benefits, and costumes are mandatory (not officially, but socially).
• •WKRP Turkey Drop (1978) — The sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati aired an episode where a radio station drops live turkeys from a helicopter as a Thanksgiving promotion, not realizing turkeys can't fly well from altitude. The line "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly" is one of the most quoted sitcom moments in American TV history.