Moon emoji
Copy any moon emoji: the eight lunar phases in order, the crescent 🌙 people use for night and sleep, and the four moon faces with their odd, cheeky meanings.
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Thirteen moons and what they mean
The moon emoji come in three groups. First, the eight phases 🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘, which are literal: new moon through waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, last quarter and waning crescent. If you want the one that matches tonight, the current moon phase emoji page works it out in your browser.
Second, 🌙 (crescent moon), the yellow crescent used for night, bedtime, “good night”, Ramadan and anything moody or dreamy. It is also the shape of the Do Not Disturb icon on iPhones, so it doubles as “I’m offline”. Third, the faces: 🌚 (new moon face), 🌝 (full moon face), 🌛 (first quarter moon face) and 🌜 (last quarter moon face). These are where the slang lives.
Compare the options
| Emoji | Name | Use it for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| crescent moonU+1F319 | Night, sleep, calm, “good night” | Not a phase; use 🌒 or 🌘 for an actual crescent phase | |
| full moonU+1F315 | Full moon, brightness, werewolf jokes | Looks like a plain circle at small sizes | |
| new moonU+1F311 | New moon, darkness, “nothing to see” | Almost invisible on dark backgrounds | |
| new moon faceU+1F31A | Cheeky, sly, mildly creepy, “I know something” | The face is the joke; it unsettles some readers | |
| full moon faceU+1F31D | Smug, dreamy, awkwardly pleased | Often used as a sarcastic “lovely” | |
| first quarter moon faceU+1F31B | Sleepy, drifting off; first quarter moon face | Rare; mostly decorative | |
| last quarter moon faceU+1F31C | Sleepy, drifting off; last quarter moon face | Rare; mostly decorative |
The phase order, so you get it right
| Emoji | Phase | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| 🌑 | New moon | Dark; the Moon sits between Earth and Sun |
| 🌒 | Waxing crescent | A sliver lit on the right (Northern Hemisphere) |
| 🌓 | First quarter | Right half lit |
| 🌔 | Waxing gibbous | More than half, growing |
| 🌕 | Full moon | Fully lit |
| 🌖 | Waning gibbous | More than half, shrinking |
| 🌗 | Last quarter | Left half lit |
| 🌘 | Waning crescent | A sliver lit on the left |
The emoji artwork follows the Northern Hemisphere view. From the Southern Hemisphere the lit side appears reversed, so 🌒 looks like 🌘 in the sky. A full cycle takes about 29.5 days, which is why a “moon phase” message a month apart usually shows the same emoji.
Questions people ask
What does the 🌚 moon emoji mean?
New moon face. People use it for a sly, cheeky or slightly creepy tone: a knowing look, a bad pun, or “I saw what you did”. It is almost never used to mean the actual new moon.
What is the difference between 🌙 and 🌒?
🌙 is the crescent moon symbol, used for night and sleep. 🌒 is the waxing crescent phase, one of the eight astronomical phases.
Which moon emoji is today?
Use the current moon phase page, which calculates tonight’s phase from the lunar cycle and shows the matching emoji to copy.
