Smiling face with tear emoji 🥲
🥲 is the smiling face with tear: a gentle smile with a single tear running from one eye. It is the bittersweet emoji — smiling through it, proud but sad, grateful but…
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What the smiling face with tear 🥲 emoji means
🥲 is the smiling face with tear: a gentle smile with a single tear running from one eye. It is the bittersweet emoji — smiling through it, proud but sad, grateful but tired, “it’s fine” when it is not quite fine. Added in Emoji 13.0 (2020), the same year everyone needed it, it became the face of coping humour. It differs from 🥹 face holding back tears, which is overwhelmed and about to cry, and from 😅 grinning face with sweat, which is nervous relief.
Unicode name: smiling face with tear · U+1F972 · Emoji 13.0 (2020) · group: Smileys & Emotion.
How people use it
- Bittersweet: goodbyes, endings, kids growing up
- Coping: “paid rent, ate noodles 🥲”
- Touched and sad: tributes, anniversaries
- Self-deprecating: small failures met with a smile
Compare the options
| Emoji | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| smiling face with tearU+1F972 | Bittersweet, coping | |
| face holding back tearsU+1F979 | Overwhelmed, moved | |
| crying faceU+1F622 | Plainly sad | |
| grinning face with sweatU+1F605 | Nervous relief | |
| slightly smiling faceU+1F642 | Fine (possibly not fine) |
The smiling crying meme
The 🥲 emoji captures the smiling crying meme — a moment of laughing and crying at the same time. It works for small, ridiculous setbacks, like the Wi-Fi dropping during a video call or your pizza arriving with pineapple when you asked for pepperoni. The emoji is shorthand for a blend of amusement and pain.
The 🥲 emoji also works for happy crying — moments that are sweet and moving, like a video of a soldier coming home to their dog. Unlike 😂, which is pure laughter, 🥲 leaves room for the ache underneath the joke.
Using 🥲 for pain and fake tears
While 🥲 is not a serious pain emoji like 🤕, it works for light-hearted emotional or minor physical discomfort. If you stub your toe but want to laugh it off, 🥲 says “that hurt, but I’m okay.” The smile keeps it from feeling heavy, so it rarely reads as real suffering. It captures a sad grin: you’re disappointed but finding the humour in it.
The fake crying emoji side of 🥲 comes out when someone is being dramatic about something trivial. A friend might text “I have to work an extra 10 minutes 🥲” to fake-cry over a tiny inconvenience. It can also express pretending to be upset but actually fine, like losing a friendly bet. The single tear is the tell that it is not that serious.
Questions people ask
What does 🥲 mean?
Smiling while sad — bittersweet feelings, or putting a brave face on something. The single tear gives it away.
What does 🥲 mean from a guy?
That something is a little sad but he is okay with it, or he is joking about a minor misfortune. It is rarely heavy.
What is the difference between 🥲 and 🥹?
🥲 has one tear and a calm smile: coping. 🥹 has eyes brimming with tears: about to cry from emotion.
Is 🥲 a fake crying emoji?
Yes, 🥲 often works as a fake crying emoji because the smile shows the tears are not serious. People use it to pretend they’re upset about something small while actually finding it funny.
What is a sad grin?
A sad grin is a smile that carries sadness or disappointment, and 🥲 captures it with its gentle smile and single tear. It’s the emoji for when you’re smiling through a letdown.
Why is 🥲 sometimes called the happy crying emoji?
Because it is used for happy crying — moments that are joyful but also moving, like a graduation or a heartfelt compliment. The tear is there because the emotion is strong enough to spill over, but the smile keeps it warm.
What is the crying smile meme?
The crying smile meme refers to the way 🥲 is used to joke about holding it together through small everyday disappointments. It pairs a smile with a single tear to say “I’m fine” when it’s clearly not.
What is the teary eyed smiling emoji?
That’s 🥲, formally called smiling face with tear. Its single tear and gentle smile are why some people describe it as the teary eyed smiling emoji.
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.
