Victory Hand Emoji

Two fingers held up in a V shape, palm facing outward. It means three completely different things depending on when and where you use it.

Victory (1941): Belgian broadcaster Victor de Laveleye launched the "V for Victory" campaign on BBC radio during WWII, urging occupied Europe to use the letter V as a symbol of resistance. Churchill adopted it and flashed the V-sign at every public appearance. Because Churchill's first use came when Allied victory was far from certain, the gesture became a symbol of defiance against the odds.

Peace (1960s): During the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon used the V-sign as a victory symbol. Anti-war protesters flipped its meaning, co-opting the same gesture as a peace sign. The counterculture won the semantic battle: by the 1970s, the V-sign with palm out was universally read as "peace" in American culture.

Photo pose (1970s-present): In Japan, American figure skater Janet Lynn popularized the V-sign during media tours after the 1972 Olympics. Singer Jun Inoue used it in a Konica TV commercial the same year. By the 1980s, posing with ✌️ for photos was ubiquitous across Japan, South Korea, and East Asia. It has no political meaning there. It's just what you do when a camera appears.

✌️ is the most versatile hand emoji. On Instagram, it's a selfie pose. On Twitter/X, it's a sign-off ("peace out ✌️"). On Slack, it's a casual goodbye. In dating, it signals relaxed, unbothered energy.

In Japan and South Korea, ✌️ in photos is so automatic it's essentially a reflex. K-pop idols use it in fan photos constantly. It's not a peace sign or a victory sign there. It's a pose.

Gen Z uses ✌️ ironically (like the 😔✌️ "it is what it is" combo) and sincerely (as a chill sign-off). It hasn't been generationally reclaimed or stigmatized like some other emojis.

The V-sign has three origin stories, each layered on top of the last.

WWII (1941): Victor de Laveleye, a Belgian politician broadcasting on BBC radio from exile, suggested using the letter V as a unifying resistance symbol across occupied Europe. V stood for "victoire" in French and "vrijheid" (freedom) in Dutch. The BBC amplified it into the "V for Victory" campaign. Churchill adopted the gesture in July 1941 and it became his signature. Notably, Churchill famously flashed it with the palm inward on several occasions, which in Britain is the equivalent of giving the finger. He was either unaware of the distinction or didn't care.

Vietnam War (1960s): Richard Nixon used the V-sign as a victory gesture. Anti-war protesters co-opted it, turning his victory into their peace. The semantic flip was complete by the early 1970s: palm-out V meant peace to an entire generation.

East Asia (1972): American figure skater Janet Lynn fell during the 1972 Olympics in Japan but kept smiling, winning the crowd's heart. During subsequent media tours, she habitually flashed the V-sign. Singer Jun Inoue used it in a Konica TV commercial that same year. By the 1980s, it was embedded in kawaii culture as a photo pose. It's now the default selfie gesture across Japan, South Korea, and China.

Unicode included it early as U+270CU+270C VICTORY HAND, part of the Dingbats block. It predates the modern emoji system, having been available in Unicode since version 1.1 (1993).

Part of Unicode 1.1 (1993) as U+270CU+270C VICTORY HAND. Originally in the Dingbats block. Added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015 with skin tone modifier support. CLDR short name: "victory hand." Keywords: hand, v, victory. One of the oldest characters in Unicode to receive emoji presentation.

• 📻
  Jan 14, 1941: [Victor de Laveleye](https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/where-does-v-for-victory-come-from) broadcasts the V campaign on BBC Belgian Service. V for victoire (French), vrijheid (Flemish freedom).
• 🎼
  Beethoven's Fifth as Morse V: Three eighth-notes and a held note. Three dots and a dash. The motif gets dubbed onto every BBC European broadcast.
• 🇬🇧
  Jul 19, 1941: Churchill formally endorses the V-sign as the gesture of the resistance. He flashes it for the rest of the war.
• 🪗
  An accordion in occupied France: Resistance fighters whistle the four-note motif as a recognition signal. The sound itself becomes contraband.

1. 1941Victor de Laveleye launches 'V for Victory' campaign on BBC radio. Churchill adopts the gesture.↗
2. 1969Anti-war protesters co-opt Nixon's V-sign as a peace symbol
3. 1972Janet Lynn and Jun Inoue popularize the V-sign in Japan↗
4. 1993Included in Unicode 1.1 as U+270C VICTORY HAND (Dingbats block)
5. 2015Skin tone modifiers added in Emoji 2.0↗

Palm out (most of the world): Peace, victory, or photo pose. Universally positive.

Palm in (UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ, South Africa): The equivalent of giving the middle finger. An insulting gesture dating to at least 1901, when a worker at Parkgate Ironworks in Rotherham was filmed making the gesture at the camera. The popular legend linking it to English archers at the Battle of Agincourt (1415) has no historical evidence.

Japan, South Korea, China: A default photo pose with no political or peace-related meaning. People do it reflexively when a camera appears. It became a kawaii aesthetic technique to make faces look smaller and cuter.

Travel writer Rick Steves warns that flashing the V-sign palm-inward in Britain can "get you a punch in the nose." The emoji renders palm-outward, so it's safe, but selfies in London with the wrong orientation can cause problems.

• •Churchill sometimes flashed the V-sign palm-inward, which in Britain is the equivalent of giving the finger. Whether he was unaware of the distinction or simply didn't care remains debated. Either way, it became his signature.
• •The popular legend that the two-finger V originated from English archers taunting the French at the Battle of Agincourt (1415) has no historical evidence. The first documented offensive use of the gesture dates to 1901.
• •American figure skater Janet Lynn's V-sign habit during 1972 media tours in Japan created a photo pose practice now used by billions of people across East Asia. One athlete's habit became a continental tradition.
• •Nixon's double-V (both hands raised) at his 1968 campaign events and 1974 resignation became so iconic that anti-war protesters co-opted the same gesture as a peace sign, permanently changing its meaning in American culture.
• •U+270CU+270C VICTORY HAND has been in Unicode since version 1.1 (1993), making it one of the oldest characters to eventually receive emoji presentation. It predates the modern emoji system by over 20 years.
• •In 2017, an Israeli court ruled that a text message containing 💃 👯 ✌️ ☄️ 🐿️ 🍾 proved intent to rent an apartment. The landlord was awarded $2,200 after the prospective tenants ghosted. One of the earliest cases of emojis as legal evidence.

• •Flashing the V-sign palm-inward in the UK, Ireland, Australia, or South Africa. It's the local equivalent of the middle finger. The emoji is always palm-out, so texting ✌️ is fine. But selfies with the wrong hand orientation can cause real offense.
• •Assuming ✌️ in East Asian contexts means 'peace.' In Japan and Korea, it's a photo pose with no political connotation. Reading peace activism into someone's selfie pose misses the cultural context.

• •Winston Churchill's V-sign became one of WWII's most iconic images. He adopted it in 1941 when Allied victory was uncertain, and it became his signature gesture for the rest of the war. Footage of Churchill flashing the V on VE Day is among the most replayed clips of the 20th century.
• •Richard Nixon's double V-sign (both hands raised with V-signs during his 1968 campaign and 1974 resignation) is one of the most parodied political gestures in American history. Anti-war protesters flipped the meaning from victory to peace, permanently changing how Americans read the gesture.
• •The Beatles used ✌️ as part of their brand identity, particularly during the "All You Need Is Love" era. John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Bed-Ins for Peace (1969) featured the V-sign prominently. Lennon continued using it throughout his solo career until his death in 1980.
• •Janet Lynn's 1972 Olympic performance in Japan and her subsequent media tours popularized the V-sign as a photo pose across East Asia. TIME documented how this single athlete's habit created a cultural practice now used by billions of people.
• •The 😔✌️ combo became a defining Gen Z text pattern around 2020, meaning "it is what it is." It spread alongside the "It is what it is" TikTok meme and represents resigned acceptance. The peace sign in this context means "peace out" from a situation you can't control.

• •U+270CU+270C. Requires variation selector U+FE0FU+FE0F for emoji presentation (✌️ vs ✌). Without the VS16, some platforms render the text glyph instead of the color emoji.
• •On Slack: :v::v:. On GitHub: :v::v:. On Discord: :v::v:. Short and memorable.
• •This is a Dingbats character (originally from the Zapf Dingbats font), not a dedicated emoji codepoint. It was repurposed as an emoji. Other Dingbats-turned-emoji include ✂️, ✈️, and ☎️.
• •Supports skin tone modifiers: U+270CU+270C + U+1F3FBU+1F3FB through U+1F3FFU+1F3FF.

See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.