Emoji and emoticon: what's the difference?

The terms emoji and emoticon are often used interchangeably, but there is a clear difference. In this practical tip, we will show you what you need to know about it.

Difference between emoji and emoticon: the emoticon

• Emoticons are combinations of letters, punctuation marks and special characters. In various combinations, these form a face with a certain expression.
• The classic emoticon is the smiley :) or :-). Many different variations such as :-P or: D can be produced with the most diverse characters and letters.
• Emoticons have not been around since the time of computers. Faces were printed from punctuation marks over 100 years ago.

Difference between emoji and emoticon: the emoji

• The emojis, however, have only been around since the 1990s. It is no longer just the cumbersome combination of characters, but already finished small and, above all, colorful pictures.
• In most cases, emojis also represent faces and resemble the classic yellow smiley. In the meantime, however, there are also various motifs other than emoji. With shamrock, Santa Claus and banana you can tell not only emotions but also whole stories.

In the next practical tip, we will show you how to replace words with emojis on iPhone.