The word emoji comes from Japanese words meaning what?

The word emoji comes from Japanese words meaning “picture character.” It combines e, meaning “picture,” with moji, meaning “character” or “written symbol.” The resemblance to the English words “emotion” and “emoticon” is coincidental, even though emoji often convey feelings.

Emoji developed in Japan through mobile-phone services during the 1990s. One especially influential set was created by Shigetaka Kurita for NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode service in 1999. His 176 symbols drew on manga imagery, Chinese characters, weather symbols, and visual signs to make short digital messages easier to understand.

The term is sometimes loosely translated as “pictograph,” which is also accurate in context, but “picture character” most directly reflects the two Japanese components. Emoji are not simply digital faces: they include objects, animals, foods, flags, activities, gestures, and abstract symbols.

Their worldwide spread accelerated after emoji characters were standardized in Unicode. That allowed different devices and operating systems to exchange the same underlying characters, even though each company could display its own artistic design.