Chef’s kiss emoji
There is no single chef’s kiss emoji. Copy the combinations people use instead — 🤌😘 and 🤌💋 — and see what the pinched fingers actually mean on their own.
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How to make a chef’s kiss with emoji
“Chef’s kiss” is the gesture of kissing your pinched fingertips and flicking them open to say perfect. Unicode has no character for it, so people build it from two emoji: 🤌 (pinched fingers) for the hand and 😘 (face blowing a kiss) or 💋 (kiss mark) for the kiss. 🤌😘 is the most common pairing; 🤌💋 is the tidier one for captions. Adding a cook, 👨🍳 🧑🍳 or 👩🍳, spells out the chef.
One caution: 🤌 was added in Emoji 13.0 as the Italian hand gesture, sometimes called “ma che vuoi?” (“what do you want?”), which can mean impatience or “what are you talking about?”. On its own it does not mean perfection. It only becomes a chef’s kiss with the kiss beside it.
Compare the options
| Emoji | Name | Use it for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| pinched fingersU+1F90C | The pinched hand; Italian gesture, emphasis | Alone it can read as “what do you want?!” | |
| face blowing a kissU+1F618 | The kiss for the combo; also affection | Flirty if used without 🤌 | |
| kiss markU+1F48B | A lipstick kiss; cleaner in captions | Also means “xoxo” | |
| man cookU+1F468 U+200D U+1F373 | Man cook, for the literal chef | ZWJ sequence; shows as two symbols on old devices | |
| cookU+1F9D1 U+200D U+1F373 | Cook, gender-neutral | Same caveat |
Chef’s kiss combos to copy
- 🤌😘 — the classic
- 🤌💋 — for captions and reviews
- 👨🍳🤌💋 — with the chef spelled out
- ✨🤌✨ — “perfection”, no kiss needed
- 🤌😘🍝 — for food that earned it
Paste any of them into the combo studio to adjust and copy. They stay separate characters; there is no way to merge them into one glyph.
Skin tone variants: 🤌🏽 and other modifiers
The pinched fingers emoji supports five skin tone modifiers, from light to dark. 🤌🏽 is the medium skin tone version; the gesture and its meaning stay the same regardless of the modifier. Pairing any skin tone of 🤌 with a kiss emoji still creates the same chef’s kiss effect.
On many phone keyboards, long-press the pinched fingers emoji to see skin tone choices, then select a tone. The tone only changes the hand colour; it does not add a separate meaning.
Chat examples
Real messages with 🤌, and a reply that fits.
your lasagne tonight 🤌
high praise from you 😘
the ending of that film 🤌
perfection
the outfit, the hair, everything 💋🤌
you’re too kind
Questions people ask
Is there an official chef’s kiss emoji?
No. Nothing in the Unicode Emoji 18.0 list is named chef’s kiss. The gesture is expressed with 🤌 plus a kiss emoji.
What does 🤌 mean by itself?
Pinched fingers, the Italian “what do you want?” gesture. It is used for emphasis, disbelief or, with a kiss, for perfection. It has skin-tone variants.
Why does 👨🍳 show as a man and a frying pan?
It is a zero-width-joiner sequence (man + cook). Devices that do not support the sequence show the two parts separately.
What does 🤌🏽 mean?
🤌🏽 is the pinched fingers emoji with a medium skin tone modifier. It carries the same meaning as the standard 🤌, including its use in chef’s kiss pairings.
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.
