Black heart emoji meaning
The black heart 🖤 can mean dark humour, grief, elegance or plain love, depending on who sends it. Copy it here and see how it differs from the red, white, grey and purple hearts.
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What the black heart means
🖤 (black heart) was added in Emoji 3.0 and picked up several meanings at once. In goth, metal and alternative circles it is simply love, in the sender’s preferred colour. In fashion and design captions it means sleek or elegant. In mourning it stands for grief and solidarity, and it was used widely during moments of collective loss. In jokes it flags dark humour or a sarcastic “love that for me”.
Because the same heart can be affectionate or morbid, the surrounding text decides. “Happy birthday 🖤” from a friend who always uses black hearts is warm. “🖤” alone under bad news is condolence. Compare it with the red ❤️ (default love), the white 🤍 (pure, calm, sometimes memorial), the grey 🩶 (neutral, moody) and the purple 💜, which has its own page in the purple heart emoji guide.
Compare the options
| Emoji | Name | Use it for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| black heartU+1F5A4 | Love in an alternative style, grief, elegance, dark humour | Can read as cold to people who expect ❤️ | |
| red heartU+2764 U+FE0F | Straightforward love and warmth | Romantic in some contexts | |
| white heartU+1F90D | Purity, calm, support, remembrance | Faint on light backgrounds | |
| grey heartU+1FA76 | Muted, moody, neutral affection | Newer; may not render | |
| broken heartU+1F494 | Heartbreak | See the broken heart emoji guide |
How people use 🖤
- As a signature: some people use 🖤 the way others use ❤️, in every message.
- Fashion and photography: “all black everything 🖤”.
- Condolence: 🖤 or 🤍 under a loss post.
- Dark jokes: “Monday again 🖤”.
- Fandoms and teams: hearts in club or brand colours, e.g. 🖤💛.
Text faces you can copy
Plain-character faces that paste anywhere. Tap one to copy.
- black heart symbol
- outline heart
- heavy heart
- rotated heart
- black heart row
The black heart as an emo symbol
In emo, scene, goth and metal communities, the black heart is the default heart emoji. It shows affection in the sender’s preferred colour, and it doubles as a small symbol of belonging. Emo culture especially uses 🖤 in bios, captions and song lyrics to signal mood without typing many words.
The black heart also shows up in dark fashion and design, where a sleek, moody symbol fits the style. In Spanish it is corazón negro and in French cœur noir.
Black heart versus broken heart and other variants
There is no single ‘black broken heart’ emoji. The black heart 🖤 and the broken heart 💔 are separate, and people often pair them to say ‘my heart is broken and dark’ or to add weight to a sad message. For more on the broken heart, see the broken heart emoji page.
The blackheart emoji is the same as the black heart emoji; the name is just written without a space.
Chat examples
Real messages with 🖤, and a reply that fits.
the new album 🖤
goth era activated 🖤
thanks for being there today 🖤
always
matching black outfits 🖤🖤
iconic
Questions people ask
What does 🖤 mean from a girl or a guy?
Usually affection with an alternative or elegant style, not a hidden message. If they use black hearts routinely, it means what a red heart would.
Is the black heart emoji negative?
Not inherently. It can express grief or dark humour, but most everyday uses are stylistic love or “that’s cool”.
What is the difference between 🖤 and 🩶?
🖤 is black and established (Emoji 3.0). 🩶 is grey, added in Emoji 15.0, and reads as muted or neutral; it also renders on fewer devices.
Is 🖤 the wicked emoji on TikTok?
The black heart is used on TikTok much as elsewhere: for dark humour, sorrow, or affection. It is not a built-in effect, just a text emoji people add to captions and comments.
Is there a black broken heart emoji?
No, there is no emoji that combines the black heart and broken heart into one glyph. To express a dark broken heart, people place 🖤 and 💔 next to each other or use them together in the same message.
What is the black heart aesthetic?
The black heart aesthetic is the use of 🖤 in fashion, photography and minimalist captions to signal a sleek, moody or alternative style. It often appears with monochrome outfits, gothic imagery or clean dark-themed feeds. Copy the emoji from the preview above to use it in your own posts.
Is there a black pixel heart emoji?
The standard black heart emoji 🖤 is not a pixel-art design, but you can copy it as text and use it in games, profiles and messages. For a pixelated heart image, you would need a pixel art graphic from an image site; this page shows the official character only.
About this guide
Written and maintained by the Emoji Directory editorial team, without ads or sponsorship. Meanings describe how the emoji is commonly used in public posts and messages, not an official definition. Names, code points, versions, keywords and translations come from the Unicode Emoji 18.0 and CLDR data; shortcodes from the gemoji project. Last reviewed . Spotted a mistake or a new usage? Tell us, or read how the directory is made.
