❓ What it means
The 🥹 Face Holding Back Tears emoji depicts a face filled with deep emotion, gratitude, or heartfelt appreciation.
It shows a yellow face with big, watery eyes, raised eyebrows, and a small quivering mouth- as if trying not to cry.
This emoji conveys tender feelings like being touched, moved, or overwhelmed with kindness.
It’s often used to show emotional vulnerability, soft gratitude, or when someone says something so sweet that it nearly brings tears to your eyes.
🎯 When to use it
- To express heartfelt gratitude:
Thank you so much for remembering me 🥹 - To react to something touching or kind:
That message made my day 🥹 - To show emotional vulnerability:
I can’t believe how supportive everyone’s been 🥹 - To express sentimental feelings:
This movie ending always gets me 🥹
🔗 Related Emojis
- 😢 Crying Face: Expresses actual sadness or grief with visible tears streaming down.
- 😭 Loudly Crying Face: Used for intense emotion — from overwhelming sadness to extreme happiness.
- 🥲 Smiling Face with Tear: Reflects bittersweet emotions, where happiness and sadness mix.
- 😊 Smiling Face with Smiling Eyes: A warmer, less emotional expression of happiness or gratitude.
- 💖 Sparkling Heart: Complements 🥹 when expressing emotional appreciation or heartfelt love.
🤓 Fun Fact
The 🥹 emoji was officially added to Unicode 14.0 in 2021, becoming an instant favorite for expressing soft emotions.
It’s widely popular in “wholesome” internet culture, often paired with phrases like “I’m not crying, you are.”
Its gentle, relatable expression perfectly captures modern digital empathy — sincere, emotional, and full of heart. 🥹