Loudly crying face

A face sobbing with streams of tears. Used for real sadness and, very often, for laughing hard or being overwhelmed.

Meaning

Real sadness, grief or disappointment.
Being overwhelmed by something funny, cute or moving: “I can’t”. (Among younger users this is one of the most common ways to show laughter, often paired with 💀.)
Exaggerated frustration about something small (“my coffee went cold 😭”).

The loudly crying face 😭 is the crying emoji most people mean: a face sobbing with streams of tears. It was the fifth most used emoji in the Unicode Consortium’s 2021 study, and it is used as often for laughing as for sadness.

See all crying emojis compared side by side.

Meanings describe how people commonly use this emoji; usage varies by person, group and platform.

Drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by the site owner.

Examples

my exam got cancelled 😭
this puppy video 😭😭😭
why is this so funny 😭💀

Looks similar

Crying face😢 has a single tear: quieter sadness, rarely ironic.
Face with tears of joy😂 is unambiguous laughter; 😭 for laughter is more intense and more common with younger users.
Smiling face with tear🥲 smiles through a tear: bittersweet, “it’s fine, really”.
Face holding back tears🥹 holds back tears: touched or grateful, not sad.

Questions

What does 😭 mean?

😭 Loudly crying face can mean real sadness, but in everyday chat it is just as often used for laughing hard, for something overwhelmingly cute or moving, or for mock despair over something small.

Why do people use 😭 when something is funny?

Crying with laughter. Many younger users use 😭 (often with 💀) where older users would use 😂.

What is the difference between 😭 and 😢?

😢 is a single tear: quiet and sincere. 😭 is loud sobbing and is often playful. For sympathy, 😢 usually reads better.

How do I type the crying emoji?

Search “cry” on your phone’s emoji keyboard, type :sob: in Slack, Discord or GitHub, or tap Copy on this page.