Emoji shortage averted with seven new emojis on the way: here’s how to use them

Frustrated that you couldn’t find an emoji for a face with bags under its eyes? Well, you can finally rest easy, because the Unicode Consortium is introducing seven new additions to its latest standard. However, phone users will have to wait until March 2025.

Google announced seven new emoji additions to the Unicode 16.0 release: a fingerprint, leafless tree, harp, splat, face with bags under eyes, shovel, and root vegetable.

The characters were based on proposals received by the Unicode Consortium, a standards body for the internationalization of software and services. The Unicode Emoji Subcommittee reviewed the new emojis and selected them based on the “Emoji Selection Factors.”

First, a “face with bags under eyes” emoji is being introduced to effectively communicate a sleep-deprived state. This proposal was submitted by Erin Collett in 2018, who argued that new parents, heavy alcohol consumers, and shift workers could be the main users of it.

“Exhaustion is an integral part of the human experience and is therefore eternally relevant,” the author said.

Second, a fingerprint emoji should cover the needs for biometrics, crime, and identity without resorting to random combinations of pointing fingers, magnifying glasses, or handcuffs.

“Although there are several emoji of fingers, none represent the mark left by a finger, nor the action of placing the finger on a sensor to capture a fingerprint,” the authors Gregory Fiumara and Rafaella Ferraro argued back in 2020.

“The image of a fingerprint is an extremely recognizable visually depictable entity. Nearly every human that has ever lived has ten unique fingerprints on their own body. On the contrary, humans have but one face.”

The third emoji, a leafless tree, may be celebrated by climate activists or weather enthusiasts, as it is also supposed to represent drought, winter, and a barren environment.

“Most organisms eventually die including trees. A tree will die if it doesn’t receive enough water to survive,” submitter Brian Baihaki said in the application in 2022. “Drought is a natural part of the climate cycle, for millions of years trees have adapted to these harsh conditions. But the climate is changing, droughts become more frequent, severe, and even spread to other places in a short amount of time.”

Baihaki believes that a leafless tree “is very distinctive compared to existing emojis, including the trees or other emoji associated with tree-like wood.”

Next, there is an emoji for subterranean vegetable needs – a root vegetable that could represent beets, turnips, kohlrabis, rutabagas, and daikons – or gardens in general. Cybersecurity experts could use it to describe root access. And there could be more uses.

“In German, the word for beet (Rübe) can also mean “head,” “thick nose,” “old-fashioned pocket watch” or a “cheeky/strange person.” The expression “wie Kraut und Rüben" (“like cabbage and turnips/beets) can mean messy or messed up,” submitters Thomas Woodside and Nicholas Beninato said. “The emoji could be used for a musical beat, or perhaps the concept of winning or “beating” somebody.”

Authors argue that beets are very different from potatoes or carrots and need to be represented.

To relieve the violin emoji from working overtime, the fifth emoji, the harp was introduced. It will be welcomed not only by musicians but also by lovers, as it could represent Cupid, angels, or the Irish.

“We expect the Harp emoji to be used worldwide because of the historically widespread harp diaspora that continues to pervade many global cultures,” submitters Mary Lattimore and Theo Schear of Emojination said in 2019. “Instruments such as the guitar and violin are somewhat related in their use of strings and soundboards, but they’re certainly not in the same family of instruments as the harp and lyre, which are visually distinct.”

Construction workers, gardening enthusiasts, moles, and probably criminal gangs may like a new shovel emoji that represents digging, scooping, and spading.

“A shovel is one of the most used outdoor tools. It stands for action: when people see a shovel they know there’s work to be done and it’ll be done! It’s used as a hobby-tool for people to work in their gardens and as a professional tool e.g. farmers working on their lands. It represents new life: as a shovel is used for gardening and planting,” submitters Justdiggit Foundation and Tim Dekens argued in 2020.

They believe an emoji for shovel will fill a gap in the tools section and will be used in many conversations when the word refers to working hard, digging deep, trying to remember, and other related actions.

Last but not least, the splatter emoji, will save time for artists and other mess-makers when trying to describe their paint parties or food fights.

“Splash represents multiple new and different concepts both physical and metaphorical. Ranging from as simple as a splash of color, a stain, sauce, or spices, to concepts such as Holi, a holiday celebrated by millions of people globally and is not representable by the current emoji set,” the submission by Aurora Zeng, Kamile Demir reads.

They believe that a splatter emoji can relieve from typing “I stained my shirt at work today,” “I squashed the bug,” “This recipe involves lots of sauce,” “Paintball game,” or “What a mess.”

If you believe that the emoji palette is still lacking, you can submit your proposals using the Unicode form.

“The UTC may accept a proposal for reasons other than those stated in the proposal, and does not necessarily endorse or consider relevant all of the proposed reasons.”

According to Google, once an emoji becomes part of the Unicode Standard, it can’t be removed – that’s why there’s such a high benchmark for emoji induction.

“The Emoji Subcommittee works with experts around the world to identify common ways we express ourselves historically in literature, film, media, and pop culture. This has led to the encoding of some particularly creative emojis,” Google said

The new emoji will be available as a web font this September, on Android phones by March 2025, and in Google products in early 2025.