Emoticon

Pronunciation

• Canada IPA: /əˈmoÊŠtəˌkÉ‘n/
• Received Pronunciation IPA: /ɪˈməʊtɪˌkÉ’n/

Origin

emotionicon

Full definition of emoticon

Noun

1. A graphical representation, either in the form of an image or made up of text characters, of a particular emotion of the writer.

Synonyms

• smiley

Usage notes

In contexts with image-based emoticons, emoticon often refers specifically to image-based glyphs, while smiley refers to text-based ones.