15 Insect Emojis to Use When Speaking of the Unspeakable

🦋 Butterflies

Starting with the pretty things, indeed.

Generally, fewer people are terrified of butterflies. Most of us don’t really mind these little winged magical things. In fact, some of us find them absolutely soothing to watch and share our space with.

Though we love 🦋, ironically, we cannot stand its ancestor in the quick evolutionary process; 🐛 Caterpillars. One look at these crawlies and we wouldn’t think twice of the beautiful outcome. Instead, we scoot the heck out of there.

Humans are that way, aren’t we? We shoo something away just it’s “ugly” and “provoking”. But we don’t mind embracing the same thing when it becomes visually pleasing and acceptable. Pathetic.

🐛 Bugs

Yes, we just had to succeed the beautiful with the not-so-much. Trying to take it “the other way around”.

Bugs are just the genre while 🐛 is the sub. Bugs, in reality, look a lot more elaborate than worms. They can fly for heaven’s sake! Not saying worms aren’t worth their salt, but bugs are way cooler. Sorry.

🐛 represents anything that can crawl and with a gazillion legs, like centipedes, millipeded caterpillars, etc. Think of a single worm and many of us don’t really shudder, but think of an entire worm colony or a bucket full of them! Yowzah.

🐞 Lady Beetle

Now this is a bug. It describes the insect better.

Ladybugs/lady beetles/ladybirds are hands down some of the most gorgeous bugs out there. They’re not always housed in a colorful red and black polka shell, they can also have other polka combinations such as black and yellow (straight from the hood), red and orange, and anything amongst the four as well.

But, ever wondered why these bugs are a lot more feminine, even though they hardly intend to be? Why’re they called ladies?! It’s frustrating. But not so much if you know the backstory.

Legend has it that ladybugs were sent by Mary, the mother of Jesus, in response to the ardent prayers of farmers who were facing a massive pest issue on their fields. The devotees who received the Mother’s grace over their fields then named these bugs “lady’s bug” as Mary is also revered as “Our Lady”, apart from the “Mother of God”. Thus, the 🐞 Ladybug.

🪲 Beetles

The same as above but just not ladylike. Beetles are the definition of bugs. Sure, we’ve seen a lot more kinds of it, but 🪲 is the apt representation of a bug, unlike the caterpillar.

Beetles exist in a massive range of colors. There are blue, purple, green, red, orange, yellow, brown (aye, brown’s a beautiful color too, kay?) beetles and these are just the tip of the spectrum.

🐜 Ants

These tiny seemingly harmless insects are hardly sources of terror. Unless they’re massive and poisonous. Like bullet ants or other scary ones among a total of 12,000 different types.

Compared to all other creepy crawlies, 🐜 is the one that lives the longest. They can live up to a couple of weeks or months based on the environment and of course, humans. The one at the top of the ant hierarchy lives for years. Queen ants are badass that way.

🐝 Honeybees

Queen ants brought us to the Queen Bee.

Humans are dependent on strange things. Money, religion, bee vomit. If the situation happens to be a pancake dinner, a glowing face, moisturized hair, we choose bee vomit as one of the main ingredients.
And it’s sweet as hell coz it works.

So, how long would the producers take to fill the average production jar with this vomit? Seconds? Um, nope, it’s bee vomit, not human vomit. A single day’s collectible nectar comes from 5000 flowers. And that’s not enough to fill a jar. 🐝 would have to do that amount of work for 400 days to fill one single jar of honey. And we have like five of those on the shelf.

Well, the good news is that once this procedure is complete, the outcome aka 🍯 Honey has an almost eternal shelf life. It could change in color, taste, and potentially consistency too, but no, it stays honey.

🐌 Snails

We’ve marginalized snails to be the slowest of all insects. We’ve even added these tiny creatures to our everyday language just to highlight how something or someone moves like a snail. Slow. But, steady too. Never to forget.

First of all, we’re SO MUCH younger than the snail. These guys have been around for 500 million years! Some of us don’t even know how many zeroes go in that! Secondly, they have teeth! And not just any teeth, the most teeth in all life forms. However, snails and humans have clashing definitions of teeth.

Here’s another shocker. They’re not insects.

🦗 Crickets

Crickets honestly set the mood for the night. Especially when you’re out camping in the countryside. They never fail to create a nicer, warmer, rustic atmosphere.

Crickets are super talkative in the summer. The warmers it gets, the faster they chirp. They’re around when it’s cold too, but not as much.

But, crickets don’t make that noise to soothe our ears. In fact, we’re eavesdropping the whole time into cricket conversations because chirping is how they talk. And if you hear this, it’s probably a conversation out of love, hate, indifference, or concern. Also, only the males do the talking.

🕷️ Spider

Ladies and gentlemen! Presenting the inspiration behind one of the biggest and the best superheroes!

Not just that, 🕷️ ranks amongst the top-most fear-inducing creatures on the planet. Not sure what’s so horrible about them, but here’s a shot at understanding spider phobia.

• Number one. It’s cultural. Not all cultures fear the spider.
• Number two. Spider phobia or Arachnophobia is a genetic fear. Many of us don’t know why we have it but we sure do know someone in the family who shares the fear.
• Number three. We’re not scared of getting bit as much as we’re scared of being attacked.
• Number four. They just look terrifying.
• Number five. You had a really bad experience with a spider. And now, you have traumatic trust issues.
• Number six. We’re all a little scared of spiders.

But, here’s something satisfying at the end of this fearsome journey. The females devour the males. At least in some world, there’s justice.

🦂 Scorpions

🦂 is the first “insect” (it’s not one) on the list to also be a symbol for a zodiac sign. Scorpios may be as unpredictable as scorpions, but chances are they’re not as cool.

• Not all scorpions are as fatal as they may seem. Only 25 to 30 species out of an approximated 1500 to 2000 scorpion species carry killer venom in them.
• A single 🦂 cannot kill you. According to studies, it takes 20 scorpions to kill a man. So probably five or ten more to kill a woman.
• Also, you don’t die immediately after a scorpion sting. That’s left for the scorpion to decide.
• Most scorpions glow in the dark! This is what we meant when we said they’re way cooler.
• They literally eat anything. 🦂 doesn’t stop with just insects, they eat tiny reptiles like lizards and baby snakes, mammals like mice, and even other scorpions!
• However, if need be, 🦂 can go without food for a whole year.

🪳 Cockroaches

Cockroaches along with spiders are some of the most-feared insects by humans. We’re downright terrified. But, do cockroaches actually intend to scare TF out of humans?

Of course, they don’t. None of the things we’re afraid of actually exist to scare us. We’re just disgusted by cockroaches, and this disgust stems from a range of genetic and environmental reasons.

However, here’s a funny and definitely ironic fact. Cockroaches find humans yucky. Apparently, they find ways to cleanse themselves once touched by a human! How the tables always turn.

🦟 Mosquitoes

Ugh! Talk about mortal enemies! We’re pretty sure every human that sleeps would agree mosquitoes to be some of the most annoying insects out there. But the question is, are they constantly in our way, or are we?

• The buzzing sound that kills a good night’s sleep is apparently a “mating call” made by the female. Now, they’re just being loud and obnoxious to the neighborhood.
• The buzz is from their flapping wings. And yes, male mosquitoes are loud too.
• You’re more likely to die because of a mosquito bite than any other insect on this list. Mosquitoes are horrifying that way.
• So, if there is a mosquito keeping you from getting your beauty sleep, here’s a trick. Definitely involves some karmic repercussions because you’d be killing.
• Switch on the 💡 lights, look closely at the walls near you, shake up your curtains and you’d efficiently spot the bastards!

🪰 Flies/House Flies

If mosquitoes were mortal enemies, then these guys are mortal wishes for complete annihilation!

Once you get a hold of the quickness, killing mosquitoes is child’s play, but it’s almost impossible to kill a housefly! Anyone who has mastered this art would talk about the first frustratingly difficult times. But, are all flies just human instigators, and nothing more?

Definitely not! Flies have much larger purposes to fulfill than just to piss us off! Like the mosquito situation, we’re just in the way.

🪱 Worms

There are a gazillion types of worms. Ones that live outside in the world and the ones capable of living within us and sometimes off us. Double yowzah. It’s a good thing they like it better in the dark.

• If you ever come across a worm and you want to stop moving ASAP, save the kill. Use a flashlight instead! It’ll cause immediate paralysis.
• Even if you were to kill a worm and a part of it cuts off, then here’s a surprise. It grows back.
• The number of hearts a worm can have is anything between none and 10.
• There are nearly 6000 worm species on planet earth.
• Worms don’t have lungs. They breathe through their skin, which can seem chopped up or deformed if the worm had too much protein.
• In the most conducive environment, a worm can live up to 8 years.

🦠 Microbes

Microbes are insects. They’re hardly visible to the bare eye. But their potential to kill is very real (coronavirus being our most recent proof). That being said, 🦠 represents more than just infection and disease. It’s also of medicine, fermentation, and health too.

• We have bacteria in our bodies. Each cell contains at least ten bacterial cells.
• If you’ve caught a cold or the flu, you’ve not been attacked by bacteria. The nasty ones are viruses.
• We’ve been whacked for eating too much chocolate and doubly whacked for increasing dental expenditure. But chocolate hardly does the damage. In fact, it helps fight cavity-inducing bacteria! Dark chocolate, precisely.
• A paper towel is definitely a more germ cautious option than dryers.
• Listening to too much music causes less depression than exponential bacterial growth in the ears.
• Bacteria can penetrate anything porous, and that includes eggs. It can get in there and do as it likes!
• They’re older than 🦖 Dinosaurs.