‘Love’ is a big word. And, as with many big words, it can be difficult to define. But nowadays, if you want to show someone how much you care about them, there’s no need for words. All you need is an emoji—a heart emoji to be exact.
But since emojis are continuously evolving, it’s important to stay up-to-date on their meaning and usage. And the love emoji is no excuse. The love emoji comes in many forms—from a heart-eyes smiley face to a sparkling heart or a simple red heart. But what do they all mean?
Keep on reading as we will explore the different emojis for love, their meaning, and when to use them.
1. ❤️ The Red Heart
This red heart emoji is the classic that directly translates to ‘I love you.’ It’s the most romantic of all emojis and can be used to express your deepest, most profound love.
When to use it: When you want to say “I love you” without actually saying it.
In addition, the red heart emoji is the most popular heart emoji on Twitter according to two different polls by Rachel Kraus and Emojipedia.
2. 🧡 Orange Heart
The orange heart emoji is a lot like the red heart emoji. It’s used to express love, but not as strong as the red heart.
When to use it: When you want to say “I care about you” or “I like you a lot.”
3. 💛 Yellow Heart
The yellow heart emoji is used to express happiness and joy. While it’s not technically a heart emoji, it’s often used in conjunction with other emojis to express love.
When to use it: When you want to show your happiness and joy, or when you want to say “I’m happy with you.”
4. 💚 Green Heart
The green heart emoji is used to express love and affection but also represents jealousy.
When to use it: When you want to say “I love you” or “I’m jealous of you.”
5. 💙 Blue Heart
The blue heart emoji is used to express trust, harmony, peace, and loyalty. It’s often seen as the most stable of all the heart emojis.
When to use it: When you want to say “I trust you” or “I’m loyal to you.”
6. 💜 Purple Heart
The purple heart emoji is used to express admiration, understanding, and compassion. It’s often seen as the most compassionate of all the heart emojis.
When to use it: When you want to say “I admire you” or “I understand you.”
7. 🖤 Black Heart
The black heart emoji is often seen as the more sinister of all the emojis for love. It’s used to express dark humor, sadness, or a dark twisted soul. In short, it’s more on emo stuff.
When to use it: When you want to show your dark side or when you want to be emo.
8. 🤎 Brown Heart
The brown heart emoji is used to express earthy and natural love. It’s often seen as the most down-to-earth of all the emojis for love. But, at the same time, it is said that it is used to express support for racial equality and justice for people of color.
When to use it: When you want to show your earthy and natural side or when you want to say “I’m proud of my brown skin.”
9. 💔 Broken Heart
The broken heart emoji is used to express sadness, mournfulness, or a broken relationship. It’s often seen as the most negative of all the heart emojis.
When to use it: When you want to say “I’m sad” or “my heart is broken.”
10. 😻 Smiling Cat Face with Heart-Shaped Eyes
The smiling cat face with heart-shaped eyes emoji is used to express love, happiness, and affection. It’s often seen as the cutest of all the emojis for love.
When to use it: When you want to show your love, happiness, or affection. Or when you want to be extra cute.
11. 💘 Heart with Arrow
The heart with arrow emoji is used to express love, infatuation, or admiration. It’s often seen as the most forward of all the emojis for love.
When to use it: When you want to say “I’m in love with you” or “I’m infatuated with you.”
12. 💞 Revolving Hearts
The revolving hearts emoji is used to express overwhelming, dizzying feelings of love, joy, passion, and admiration. It’s often seen as the most intense of all the emojis for love.
When to use it: When you want to say “I’m passionate about you” or “I’m madly in love with you.”
13. 💕 Two Hearts
The two hearts emoji is used to express love, togetherness, and companionship. It’s often seen as the most romantic of all the emojis for love.
When to use it: When you want to say “My love is growing for you.”
14. 💟 Heart Decoration
The heart decoration emoji is used to express love, adoration, and appreciation. It’s often seen as the most decorative of all the emojis for love because it conveys positive emotions.
When to use it: When you want to say “I adore you” or “I appreciate you.”
15. ❣️ Heavy Heart Exclamation Mark Ornament
The heavy heart exclamation mark ornament emoji is used to express love, excitement, and happiness. It’s often seen as the most festive of all the emojis for love because it’s full of joy.
When to use it: When you want to say “I’m excited about or for you” or “I’m happy with you.”
16. 💗 Growing Heart
The growing heart emoji is used to express love, admiration, and infatuation. It’s often seen as the most enamored of all the emojis for love because it represents the act of falling in love.
When to use it: When you want to say “I’m falling in love with you” or “I’m enamored with you.”
17. 😍 Smiling Face With Heart-Eyes
The smiling face with heart-eyes emoji is used to express love, happiness, and affection. In reality, it is almost the same as the ‘Smiling Cat Face with Heart-Shaped Eyes’ emoji. The only difference is that aside from the feeling of being cute, it conveys extreme positivity toward a specific subject (romantic or not).
When to use it: When you want to say “I’m crazy about/obsessed with” something or someone.
18. 🥰 Smiling Face With Hearts
The smiling face with hearts emoji is used to express love, happiness, and affection. It’s often seen as the most content of all the emojis for love because it conveys a sense of tranquility and serenity.
When to use it: When you want to say “I’m feeling loved.”
19. 💌 Love Letter
The love letter emoji is used to express affection, admiration, or deep love. It’s often seen as the most old-fashioned of all the emojis for love because it represents a time when people wrote letters to profess their love.
When to use it: When you want to say “I love you” in a classic, romantic way.
20. 💓 Beating Heart
The beating heart emoji is used to express love, joy, happiness, and excitement. In reality, it is almost the same as the ‘Growing Heart’ emoji. The only difference is that the former expresses a more intense feeling of love.
When to use it: When you want to say “I’m so in love with you” or “I’m really excited about you.”
21. 💖 Sparkling Heart
The sparkling heart emoji is used to express love, appreciation, and joy. It’s often seen as the most grateful of all the emojis for love because it conveys a deep sense of happiness.
When to use it: When you want to say “I’m really happy with you” or “I’m really thankful for you.”
22. 💝 Hearts With Ribbon
The hearts with ribbon emoji is used to express love, appreciation, and happiness. It’s often seen as the most romantic of all the emojis for love because it conveys a deep sense of affection.
When to use it: When you want to say “I’m really grateful to you” or “I’m really thankful for you.”
23. 😘 Face Blowing a Kiss
The face-blowing kiss emoji is used to express affection, love, and appreciation. It’s often seen as the most loving of all emojis for love because it conveys a deep sense of admiration. This emoji is mostly used when the person is saved from a situation like when you’ve asked for a favor.
When to use it: When you want to say “You’re a heaven’s sent” or “I’m really thankful for you.”
The Popularity Of Heart Emojis
The heart emojis are one of the most popular emojis on the keyboard. They are often used to express love, appreciation, and happiness. In fact, according to a study, heart emojis are the most used emojis in the world—or, by all means, on social media platforms.
Heart emojis, and other types of emojis also, are like shortcuts or the easiest way to express your feelings. They have been around for quite some time and their popularity doesn’t seem to be waning any time soon. Especially today when Millenials and GenZ are the most active users of emojis.
Heart emojis are not just for lovers but for anyone who wants to express their love and appreciation for someone or something. Whether it’s your best friend, family member, or favorite show—there’s always a heart emoji that will perfectly suit the situation.
When Is The Best Time To Use The Heart Emojis?
While the different heart emojis simplify our ways of expressing our emotions, it can be tricky to know when is the best time to use them. Thus, there are instances that we might overuse or misuse these emojis.
Heart emojis are commonly used on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. They are also popular in texting and messaging apps such as Snapchat, WhatsApp, and WeChat.
But, in general, the best time to use heart emojis is when you genuinely feel the emotion of love, appreciation, or happiness. Of course, you can use them as a joke but make sure that the receiver knows that you’re just joking around.
However, it is not so much advisable for professional settings or when you’re communicating with someone for business. Though, if the receiver is someone close to you like a co-worker, boss, or client—feel free to add a heart emoji or two in your messages.
Just remember to use them wisely and thoughtfully!