The tongue emoji 👅 shows a tongue sticking out on its own, with no face. Emojipedia says it can be a childish sign of defiance, like pulling a face at someone, or it can suggest licking, which in a flirty chat usually means innuendo. Between friends it's often just cheeky. From someone you're dating, read it as suggestive.
This is one of those emojis where the same picture can be harmless or loaded. A kid sending 👅 to a sibling and an adult sending it after a late-night message mean very different things. Here's how to tell them apart, and what to send instead if you only mean 'I'm joking'.
What the tongue emoji shows
Emojipedia's description is simple: a tongue, sticking out. There's no face attached, which matters more than you'd think. Unicode's emoji-test file lists it as U+1F445 in the People and Body group, in the body-parts section, sitting between the eye and the mouth. It's tagged E0.6, one of the oldest emoji labels in the file.
Emojipedia says it was approved as part of Unicode 6.0 in 2010 and added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015. So it's been around for a long time, which helps explain why it picked up more than one meaning.
The cheeky, childish meaning
The first meaning Emojipedia gives is a childish sign of defiance. Think of a child sticking their tongue out and saying 'nyah'. In texts, that translates to playful teasing.
- 'I got the last slice 👅' is gloating, in a friendly way.
- 'Told you I'd win 👅' is the same playful smugness.
- 'Not telling you 👅' is teasing someone who wants a secret.
If that's the feeling you want, a face with its tongue out often lands better. The 😛, 😜 and 😝 faces show the whole expression, so nobody wonders what you meant. The tongue on its own is more ambiguous.
The flirty meaning
Emojipedia's second meaning is licking, in various contexts. Some of those contexts are food: 'That ice cream 👅' just means it looks delicious. But in a flirty or late-night conversation, the licking sense turns into innuendo, and most adults will read it that way.
So if you're an adult texting another adult and you send 👅 with no other context, expect it to be read as a come-on. That's fine if it's welcome. It's not fine with colleagues, clients or anyone you don't know well. If you're unsure where a chat is heading, my explainer on NSFW covers the signals to look for.
| Context | Most likely meaning |
|---|---|
| A child or teen teasing a sibling | Defiance, nyah, cheeky |
| Under a photo of food | Looks delicious |
| A reply to a selfie from someone you're dating | Flirting or innuendo |
| A group chat joke between friends | Playful teasing |
| A work message | Avoid: too easy to misread |
Tongue emoji vs tongue-out faces
It helps to know the neighbours. A face with a tongue out, like 😛, keeps the playful 'just kidding' tone because you can see the smile. The winking version, 😜, adds mischief. The 👅 emoji strips away the face, and with it, a lot of the context that keeps a message innocent.
A similar thing happens with the smirk emoji: the face does the work. Without a face, people fill in the gap with whatever the conversation suggests.
Tongue-in-cheek and other tongue phrases
English has a lot of tongue idioms, and none of them mean what the emoji means. Merriam-Webster defines tongue-in-cheek as 'characterized by insincerity, irony, or whimsical exaggeration', and dates it to 1856. It also lists 'bite one's tongue', 'hold one's tongue' and 'on the tip of one's tongue'.
Some people do use 👅 to mark a tongue-in-cheek comment, in the sense of 'I don't mean this seriously'. But because the emoji's other meanings are stronger, it's not a reliable irony marker. The upside-down face does that job far better.
The word tongue itself
Merriam-Webster traces tongue to Middle English tunge, from Old English, and dates it to before the 12th century. It's related to Old High German zunga and Latin lingua, which is where we get linguistics. That second meaning, a language, is still in Merriam-Webster as 'a spoken language', as in mother tongue.
The dictionary also lists some lovely objects that have tongues: the flap under the laces of a shoe, the metal ball inside a bell, and the pole of a wagon. Woodworkers join boards with a tongue and groove. None of them have their own emoji, which is probably for the best.
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How to reply to a 👅
If a friend sends it after teasing you, play along. A tongue-out face or a laughing emoji back keeps it light. If it comes from someone you're dating and you like where it's going, you'll know what to do. If it comes from someone you'd rather not flirt with, there's no need to respond in kind. A neutral reply, or no emoji at all, makes the boundary clear without a scene.
Context from earlier in the chat matters too. If you've been swapping memes all evening, 👅 is probably part of the joke. If the chat has gone quiet and then a single 👅 appears, it's worth reading more carefully.
And if you sent 👅 and it was misread, a quick 'I meant it like a kid sticking their tongue out 😂' clears it up. Most people will laugh.
The history and the common readings of another popular emoji are in our ghost emoji explainer.
Should brands use 👅?
Only if your brand voice is playful and your audience is adult. A sweet shop or ice cream brand can pull it off on food posts. For most businesses, it's too easy to misread, and the people who'd find it funny are rarely the ones you're trying to reach. A tongue-out face gives you the cheek without the risk.
Replies often hinge on a single symbol, so our devil emoji explainer is a handy read.
Frequently asked questions
What does 👅 mean from a guy or a girl?
From someone flirting with you, it's usually suggestive. From a friend, it's often just cheeky teasing.
Is the tongue emoji flirty?
It can be. Emojipedia says it can mean licking, which reads as innuendo in a flirty chat.
What does 👅 mean from a kid?
Usually a childish sign of defiance, like sticking a tongue out and saying 'nyah'.
When was the tongue emoji added?
Emojipedia says it was approved in Unicode 6.0 in 2010 and added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015.
What's a safer emoji for joking?
A tongue-out face like 😛 or 😜 shows the smile, so it reads as playful.
Is 👅 OK to use at work?
It's best avoided at work because it's easy to misread.
