A Parent’s Guide To Emojis And Their Sexual Meanings: Suggestive Emojis Meaning

According to a 2022 survey, Gen Z uses emojis in online communications 57% of the time. Translate that to how often your teen spends on their phone and that’s a lot of emojis. They’re so prevalent that they’re the fastest-growing language on the planet. But parents like you aren’t native speakers.

While you may use a laughing face or two, your children know the slang behind upside-down smileys, chillis, and the seemingly innocent bowl of noodles. There’s a potentially dark world behind the otherwise innocuous symbols, and you need to know about it to keep your kids away from possible dangerous situations.

Luckily, that’s exactly what this guide intends to do. Consider this your one-stop-shop for the hidden meanings of emojis (innocent and sexual). Once you’re clued up, it’s all about open communication.

Understanding Emojis

Emojis started life as a necessity. During the late 1990s, NTT DoCoMo’s (a Japanese telecom company) pager service allowed a limited number of characters, frustrating its users. So, an engineer at the company created 176 simple pictograms (i.e., emojis) that would covey emotions and information in one character.

Naturally, these were basic symbols — hearts, music notes, and weather symbols. However, their evolution began when Apple released the iPhone in 2007 and tech-savvy individuals spread the previously hidden emoji keyboard across the world. 

Since then, their design has changed drastically. Today, the emoji keyboard includes symbols representing various professions, races, and genders, thanks to the global realization that these pictures can fast-track a shift towards inclusivity and visual storytelling.

Emojis’ Role in Communication

Emojis have had a deep cultural impact, influencing everything from personal community to social media to marketing to branding. It’s a universal language, transcending traditional language barriers by conveying both emotions and messages with nothing but widely recognized images.

Beyond the basics, emojis also allow more nuanced communication. They can tone of voice and context alongside superficial words, adding more meaning to an otherwise bland text conversation. Ultimately, they humanize cyber communication.

Common Emojis and Their Meanings

Context is key when deciphering emojis’ meanings. Sometimes, emojis you think are innocent won’t be and vice versa. The trick is to know their basic meanings and figure out the context later.

So, let’s take a look at some of the most common emojis and their meanings in today’s culture.

Innocent VS. “Sexual” Emojis

As you’ll be pleased to know, not every emoji has a sexual or darker undertone — some are innocent and used in general conversation.

This table highlights the most common emojis with innocent meanings:

Innocent Emoji	Meaning
Eye+lips+eye 👁👄👁	“It is what it is”
Woozy face 🥴	Indicates drunkenness or a grimace
Upside-down smiley 🙃	Expresses annoyance
Clown 🤡	Used when feeling like a fraud/getting caught in a lie or mistake
Ghost 👻	References being ghosted (i.e., dumped without an explanation)
Cap 🧢	Indicates a lie (a.k.a. a “cap”)
Nazar 🧿	Represents keeping the evil eye away
Cold face 🥶	Used in response to a savage comment (e.g., “That was cold”)
Woman fairy+sparkle 🧚‍♀️✨	Denotes a mean-spirited, sarcastic tone
100 💯	“I agree”
Exhaling face 😮‍💨	Represents relief or exhaustion
Tired face 😫	Tiredness
Moai 🗿	Deadpan expression/dry tone
Call me hand 🤙	“Call me” or “hit me up”
I love you hand 🤟	“I love you”
Loudly crying face 😭	Uncontrollable laughter
Melting face 🫠	Embarrassment
Salute 🫡	Show respect or obedience in a sarcastic way
Shushing face+deaf person 🤫🧏	“I can’t respond because I’m mewing”

This table is probably why you’re here — the emojis with risqué or inappropriate meanings. As we’ve mentioned before, context is key, but keep an eye out for these symbols in your teen’s messages:

Emoji	“Sexual” Meaning
Eggplant 🍆	Penis
Peach 🍑	Butt
Corn 🌽	Represents porn (primarily on TikTok)
Chili 🌶️	References “spiciness” (i.e., risqué/inappropriate content)
Tongue 👅	Can indicate sexual activity (oral sex in particular)
Okay 👌	Used next to the pointed finger (👉) to indicate penetrative sex
Water droplets 💦	Ejaculation or squirting
Eyes 👀	Used when sending/receiving nudes
Brain 🧠	Oral sex
Smiling devil 😈	Translates to “I’m horny” or represents freakiness
Woozy face 🥴	Indicates sexual arousal
Hot face 🥵	“Hot” in a sexual sense
Drooling face 🤤	Sexually desiring somebody
Exhaling face 😮‍💨	Satisfaction after sex
Melting face 🫠	This signifies the fluttery feelings you experience when flirting or crushing on someone
Cat 🐱	Vagina
Baguette 🥖	Penis
Cherries 🍒	Breasts or testicles
Noodles 🍝	Represents nudes (often dubbed “noods”)
Taco 🌮	Vagina
Lorry 🚛	Dump truck, meaning a large and shapely bottom
Hourglass ⏳	Used when somebody has an hourglass body shape
Hot dog 🌭	Anal sex
Shower 🚿	Shower sex
Hammer 🔨	Sexual activity
Fireworks 🎆	Orgasm
Cancer star sign ♋	69 sex position
Rhino 🦏	Feeling naughty or frisky
Fire 🔥	Shows someone is sexy or attractive

Decoding “Sexual” Emoji Conversations

Kids these days are cryptic. They think (rightly or wrongly) that their parents have no idea what they’re talking about when using emojis, especially when message contain these symbols alone. Hence, you need to know how to decode emoji-heavy conversations.

Context Matters

As we’ve alluded to, context is key when understanding emojis. After all, the same emoji can have various meanings. For example, the exhaling face (😮‍💨) can mean exhaustion or symbolize satisfaction/tiredness after sex. Similar can be said for the woozy face (🥴), which can indicate a grimace or sexual arousal.

To decipher the context (and therefore the correct emoji meaning), we suggest looking at the whole text thread. That way, you’ll get a feel for the conversation, rather than jumping to conclusions based off one text.

Pattern Recognition

Sometimes, it’s the combination of emojis that indicate sexual content, rather than standalone symbols. This table covers the most common:

Emoji Combo	“Seggsual” Meaning
🍆💦	This means a guy wants to have sex or he has ejaculated
👉👈	Shy or nervous when flirting
🍑 🍆	Anal sex
🎟️💃👀	“Striptease please.”
🍿❄️👅🍩	“Let’s ‘Netflix & chill’ and have oral sex.”
😮 💨	Indicates loss of breath when seeing an attractive person (i.e. “smoking hot”)
❤️🦴	“I’d love to bone you.”
🍆🍑💦	Anal sex or doggy
👌👈	Intercourse
🍩🍌	Anal sex
🥖🍯	Intercourse
🌭🌮	Intercourse
👋🍑😈	“I want to spank you.”

How to Talk to Your Child About Emojis

It’s no secret that children can be closed off when it comes to talking to their parents about their activities, especially when said activities may involve “seggsual” conversations. However, it’s important to initiate these discussions. No matter how awkward it may be, both sides will thank you for it in the long run.

Starting the Conversation

Being open-minded and non-judgmental should be your priorities when initiating the emoji conversation with your children. But here are a few extra tips and tricks to get started:

• Make it part of daily conversation, so your children feel relaxed.
• Allow the conversation to be two-way — you talk and listen.
• Consider a subtle approach.
• Offer context so they know why some things are inappropriate. 

Setting Boundaries and Guidelines

After the initial discussion, you should set boundaries and guidelines for appropriate emoji usage and responsible digital communication. This may involve using parental controls to limit access to explicit or dangerous content and ensuring your children know about safety and privacy features, such as:

• Block and report features
• Public/private social media accounts
• Safe profile pictures
• The difference between personal and private information

Resources for Parents

Since emojis and their meanings are ever-changing, you should use the educational tools and support networks listed below to keep your children safe while communicating online.

Educational Tools and Apps

• Be Internet Awesome
• Common Sense Media
• Family Online Safety Institute
• The Tech Talk
• Mashable
• The Verge
• Mumbrella
• TikTok’s privacy settings help
• Instagram’s privacy settings help
• Snapchat’s privacy settings help

Support Networks

• Parents Protect
• Netmums Internet Safety Forum
• Internet Matters
• r/Parenting
• r/raisingkids
• r/AskParents

The Bottom Line

While emojis were born out of necessity, they’re now the fastest-growing language in the world. But these seemingly cute pictures aren’t always used for innocent communications, so you must remain vigilant of their ever-changing meanings to keep your children safe online. Keep lines of communication open and non-judgmental for best results, and don’t hesitate to utilize the aforementioned forums when you need additional support.