Emoji lovers who are patiently waiting for new ways to express themselves through text are certainly in for a treat, as the Unicode Consortium has confirmed that Unicode 14 is finalised. In total there will be 838 new characters as well as 37 brand new emojis.
Some of the new emojis from Unicode 14 that we will be getting include a melting face, a dotted-line face, a troll emoji, beans and more. Furthermore, the popular gesture amongst K-Pop fans made by crossing your thumb and your index finger will also be made available as well. Other emoji depictions that will be available include a lip-biting emoji and low battery. As a lover of disco music and culture, I’m thrilled that we are finally getting a mirrorball emoji.
The long-awaited multi-skin tone options for the handshake emoji will also be available as well. It’s pretty bizarre to learn that the reason for this overdue change was because of a limitation in the modifier coding. It’s also pretty surprising when you learn that emojis can take up to two years to develop.
Perhaps the most interesting emoji is the one of the pregnant man as well as the gender-neutral pregnant person. Emojipedia says that this part of their approach to be inclusive towards trans men and non-binary individuals. Not only that, emojis are also context-dependant; the emoji could be used to signify having a food baby after one has eaten a lot. Additionally, there is also an emoji depicting a pregnant woman with short hair.
The emoji updates were originally supposed to be available much earlier, but the COVID-19 pandemic was to blame for the delay as the emoji work depends on volunteer contributors. The new emojis will be available on major platforms later this year.
