Temperature emoji 🌡️
The temperature emoji 🌡️ shows a clinical thermometer with a red liquid column. It’s a common symbol for heat, fever, weather talk and anything temperature-related.
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What the temperature emoji means
The temperature emoji 🌡️ depicts a classic clinical thermometer: a narrow glass tube with a bulb at one end and a red liquid column that rises along a scale. It is the standard visual shorthand for measuring heat, whether that is body temperature, outdoor conditions, or the temperature of food and objects.
Unicode officially names the character “thermometer”, but many people call it the temperature emoji because it shows up whenever the conversation turns to degrees, fevers, heatwaves or checking the weather forecast. The red liquid inside the tube suggests a reading, making it useful for both hot and cold contexts when paired with a number.
The emoji sits in the Travel & Places group under sky & weather, alongside other weather symbols like the sun and snowflake. Its simple, medical design means it is also used to signal illness, such as a fever, or to indicate that something is overheating.
How people use the temperature emoji
The most common use is to talk about the weather. A message like “It’s 32°C today 🌡️” quickly signals hot conditions, while “-10°C 🌡️” makes the cold clear. The emoji also appears when people are checking their body temperature, reporting a fever, or asking how someone is feeling after an illness.
- Weather reports and casual comments about heat or cold
- Health checks: reporting a fever, feeling unwell, taking someone’s temperature
- Cooking: checking if meat, sugar or oil has reached a certain temperature
- Metaphorically: things heating up, e.g. “the debate is getting spicy 🌡️”
Because the emoji shows a clinical thermometer, it often appears alongside the sick emoji or the hot face emoji when someone is unwell or overheating. In cooking contexts, it can be paired with the frying pan emoji or the steak emoji to emphasise checking the internal temperature.
Compare thermometer with similar emoji
| Emoji | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| thermometerU+1F321 U+FE0F | Measures temperature; used for heat, fever, weather. | |
| new moonU+1F311 | Marks the start of the lunar cycle; unrelated to temperature. | |
| full moonU+1F315 | Represents the full moon; often used for night or astronomy. | |
| crescent moonU+1F319 | A sliver of moon; sometimes used for sleep or night, not temperature. |
Temperature emoji on different platforms
The core design of the temperature emoji is consistent across platforms: a narrow thermometer with a red column and a bulb. The exact angle, background and shading vary, but the meaning is identical everywhere: a device for measuring temperature. On some messaging apps, the emoji may render without a backing plate, showing only the glass tube.
It is supported on virtually all modern phones, tablets and computers, so you can use it in any chat or document without worrying about compatibility. The thermometer is a universally recognised object, so the emoji rarely needs explanation.
How to type and copy the temperature emoji
You can copy the temperature emoji directly from this page: 🌡️. To type it on your device, open the emoji keyboard and search for “thermometer” or “temperature”. The exact steps depend on your operating system.
- On Android: open the emoji keyboard and search “thermometer”.
If you use the emoji regularly, consider setting up a text replacement. On iOS, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement and create a shortcut like “temp” that expands to 🌡️. On Android, you can use a keyboard app like Gboard to add a personal dictionary entry. This makes it quick to drop the emoji into emails, documents or chat messages.
Questions people ask
Can the temperature emoji be used for cold weather?
Yes, it works for any temperature, hot or cold. Pair it with a number like “-5°C 🌡️” or combine it with the cold face emoji to make freezing conditions clear.
Is there a difference between the thermometer emoji and the hot face emoji?
Yes. The thermometer emoji 🌡️ represents the concept of temperature or measuring it, while the hot face emoji 🥵 shows a person overheating and is used to express feeling hot or overwhelmed.
What emoji go well with the temperature emoji?
Common pairings include the sick emoji or hot face emoji for illness and overheating, plus cooking emoji like the frying pan emoji when checking food temperature.
Will the temperature emoji look the same on my friend’s phone?
The exact design may vary slightly between platforms, but it always shows a thermometer and keeps the same meaning. You don’t need to worry about it being misunderstood.
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.
