Laughing emoji
Copy the laughing emoji you actually mean: tears of joy 😂, rolling on the floor 🤣, a squinting grin 😆 or the cat 😹, and see which one fits the joke.
Published · Updated
The main laughing emoji and how they differ
😂 (face with tears of joy) is the standard “that’s funny” reaction and one of the most used emoji in the world; Oxford Dictionaries even chose it as its Word of the Year in 2015. 🤣 (rolling on the floor laughing) is the louder version, tilted over with tears flying. 😆 (grinning squinting face) is a big laugh without the tears, often used for “ha, nice one”. 😹 is the cat version, which sits in a small family of cat faces used for silliness.
The joke about 😂 being “old” has some truth. Many younger users switched to 💀 (“I’m dead”) or 😭 for something hilarious, and treat 😂 as slightly formal. None of that makes 😂 wrong; it is still the clearest way to say you laughed.
Compare the options
| Emoji | Name | Use it for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| face with tears of joyU+1F602 | The default laugh; clear to everyone | Some readers find it dated | |
| rolling on the floor laughingU+1F923 | Uncontrollable laughter | Can look over the top for a mild joke | |
| grinning squinting faceU+1F606 | A hearty, tears-free laugh; also excitement | Sometimes read as nervous laughter | |
| cat with tears of joyU+1F639 | Silly, cat-themed laughter | Rare; not every app shows the cat family well | |
| loudly crying faceU+1F62D | “I’m crying” at something funny | Doubles as sadness; see the crying emoji guide |
Funny emoji beyond the laughing faces
Searches for “funny emoji” usually want a reaction that says this is funny rather than a joke emoji. These are the ones people reach for most, in roughly increasing intensity.
💀 (skull) reads as “dead from laughing” in casual chat, while 🤡 (clown face) is mocking rather than amused, so use it only where the teasing is obviously friendly.
Questions people ask
Which laughing emoji is the strongest?
🤣 is the most intense of the standard faces. In slang, 💀 and 😭 are used the same way and are often read as stronger than 😂.
Is 😂 a crying emoji?
No. Its Unicode name is face with tears of joy and it always means laughter. The crying faces are 😭 and 😢.
Why do people say 😂 is for old people?
It became so common after 2015 that some younger users treat it as a default and prefer 💀 or 😭. It is a style choice, not a rule.
