Laughing Emoji Emoji π
Copy the laughing emoji emoji π with one click, then explore the meaning and example uses below.
What does the laughing emoji emoji mean?
A yellow face with tears of joy streaming from closed eyes while broadly grinning. The most popular emoji, expressing uncontrollable laughter.
How to use π
- Something is extremely funny
- Uncontrollable laughter
- Reacting to hilarious content
- So funny you're crying
- Expressing joy and amusement
Laughing emoji Unicode and popularity
π Face with Tears of Joy is U+1F602, added in the original 2010 emoji block (Unicode 6.0). It was named Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Year in 2015 β the first non-word to win β after data showed it made up around 20% of all UK and 5% of US emoji use that year, and it has stayed at or near the top of most-used-emoji trackers (Unicode Consortium, Emojipedia) ever since.
π vs π€£ vs π β which laugh to send
- π Face with Tears of Joy: the default 'this is funny' reaction β safe in almost any casual context.
- π€£ Rolling on the Floor Laughing (U+1F923, added 2016): tilts further, more physical β 'I'm losing it', often used by younger users as the stronger version of π.
- π Loudly Crying Face: on TikTok and among Gen Z this is frequently used ironically to mean 'I'm dying laughing', not literal sadness β context (captions, other emoji) tells you which reading applies.
Generational shift away from π
Starting in the early 2020s, Gen Z users increasingly treated π as 'uncool' or dated, shifting toward π (Loudly Crying Face, used ironically) or π (Skull, meaning 'I'm dead' from laughing) for the same 'hilarious' reaction. The shift showed up in the data too: π briefly lost its long-held #1 spot in Twitter's most-used-emoji rankings in 2021 before rebounding. It is still the single most-used emoji across the general population, so it remains the safest universal choice outside youth-coded platforms like TikTok.
Where π actually came from
π wasn't designed for the global smartphone era β it originated in Japanese carrier emoji sets built by au (KDDI) and SoftBank Mobile in the 2000s, long before Unicode standardized emoji. Apple's first emoji keyboard shipped only in Japan, on iPhone OS 2.2 in 2008; the character didn't reach the rest of the world until an iOS software update opened the emoji keyboard globally in 2011 β three years before most of the planet had ever seen it.
Platform render: iOS, Android, Windows, Twitter/X and Slack
Apple's π uses detailed, glossy tear droplets and a wide open-mouth smile; Google's Noto Emoji (post-2017 redesign) renders it flatter and rounder with smaller, simpler tears; Samsung's historically more divergent style has closed that gap in recent One UI releases. On Windows 11, Microsoft ships a flat 2D π in the OS shell (added November 2021) but a glossier 3D 'Fluent' version inside Teams and Office. On Twitter/X, the open-source Twemoji set (launched 2014 with the Iconfactory) used its own bold flat 2D design β but since February 2023, X dropped Twemoji on mobile apps in favor of each phone's native emoji, so π posted from an iPhone shows Apple's artwork even inside the X app. Slack, meanwhile, shows Apple's π to teammates on Mac/iOS and Google's Noto version to everyone on Windows, Linux or Android.
Related searches
tears of joy · crying laughing · lol emoji · rofl emoji · laugh cry
FAQ
Why is π called the laughing emoji if it shows tears?
Its official Unicode name is 'Face with Tears of Joy' β the tears represent laughing so hard you cry, not sadness. 'Laughing emoji' is just the common nickname.
Is π or π€£ more popular?
π remains the more-used emoji overall across most trackers, but π€£ (introduced later, in 2016) has grown quickly, especially for reactions meant to read as more extreme than a standard π.
Why did the laughing emoji become Oxford's Word of the Year?
In 2015, Oxford Dictionaries found π made up about 20% of all emoji used in the UK and 17% in the US that year β up from roughly 4% and 9% in 2014 β and named it the first non-word Word of the Year, arguing emoji had become a genuine cross-language form of communication.
Is the laughing emoji considered outdated now?
Among many Gen Z users, yes β surveys since the early 2020s found π read as slightly 'boomer' compared to π or π for the same reaction. It remains the most universally understood 'this is funny' emoji across older users and formal contexts, so it's still the safest default outside youth-coded platforms.