A simple face with short hair and an open, innocent expression, the stock illustration of a young boy. It's used literally for a son, a grandson, or any male child being talked about, without much figurative use beyond that.
What 👦 means
Less about one specific kid than a stand-in for boyhood in general — the little brother in a photo, the classmate in a story, whoever fits.
The 👦 Boy emoji, most of all, sits well with any situation or conversation that says 'boy' (literally. We don't do metaphors with genders), like a baby shower, a birthday, etc. It is available in the designated skin tones almost across all platforms.
How and when to use it
- If you or someone you know very closely is expecting a baby boy, you can either use 👦 in the virtual invites or just social media posts or private messages.
- 👦 can also be used when you're sending or posting pictures of your baby boy (your child. A boyfriend or husband don't count here, they're men).
- If somehow, you and your best friend are casually about boy toys (offensive AF, but its an actual term and many are okay with it), use 👦 in such conversations.
- If you're trying to draft a fun script that involves a boy and you're using emojis in that dialogue, you can bring in the 👦 emoji.
- Kindly refrain from cringy applications of the 👦 emoji.
Other Names
- 👦 Child
- 👦 Big Boy
- 👦 Small Boy
- 👦 Mamma's Boy
- 👦 It's a Boy!
- 👦 Lad
- 👦 Guy
- 👦 Youngster
- 👦 Fellow
- 👦 Schoolboy
- 👦 Youth
- 👦 Dude
- 👦 Cool Kid
- 👦 Teenage
- 👦 Teen Boy
The lowdown
- Category
- People & Body › person
- Codepoints
U+1F466- Emoji version
- Emoji 0.6
- Shortcodes
:boy:- Keywords
- boy, bright-eyed, child, grandson, kid, son, young, younger
How it looks across platforms
Seeing a blank box instead of the emoji somewhere? Here's why that happens. Curious why the designs above don't match to begin with? Here's why that happens too.
Skin tone variations
⚡ Quick round
Which joined the keyboard first — 👦 Boy or 🦉 Owl?