Face with medical mask emoji 😷
😷 is the face with medical mask: a smiley wearing a white surgical mask over its nose and mouth. It means sick and contagious, a cough or a cold, pollution, hospital…
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What the face with medical mask 😷 emoji means
😷 is the face with medical mask: a smiley wearing a white surgical mask over its nose and mouth. It means sick and contagious, a cough or a cold, pollution, hospital visits and, since 2020, masking in general. It is also the closest thing to a coughing emoji — there is none — with 😮💨 face exhaling as the other stand-in. In Japan, where the emoji comes from, wearing a mask when you have a cold is ordinary courtesy, which is why the original design was so matter-of-fact. Apple’s 2020 redesign gave the face visibly smiling eyes above the mask.
Unicode name: face with medical mask · U+1F637 · Emoji 0.6 (original set) · group: Smileys & Emotion.
How people use it
- Sick: colds, flu, “staying away from everyone”
- Coughing: the nearest emoji to a cough
- Masks: reminders, mandates, hospital visits
- Pollution and smoke: bad air days
Compare the options
| Emoji | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| face with medical maskU+1F637 | Sick, contagious, masked | |
| face with thermometerU+1F912 | Fever | |
| sneezing faceU+1F927 | Sneeze, allergies | |
| nauseated faceU+1F922 | Queasy | |
| health workerU+1F9D1 U+200D U+2695 U+FE0F | Doctor, nurse |
Questions people ask
What does 😷 mean?
Being ill and keeping germs to yourself, or wearing a mask for any reason. It is the sick-and-contagious emoji.
Is there a coughing emoji?
No. 😷 face with medical mask is what people use, or 😮💨 face exhaling for the cough itself.
Does 😷 look sad?
Older designs had neutral eyes and read as unwell; Apple and others redrew it in 2020 with smiling eyes, so it can now look cheerful behind the mask.
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.
