Added alongside the moose as one of the newer animal emoji, the donkey shows a grey, long-eared pack animal. It's used for the literal animal — farms, rural life — and for the old idiom of being 'stubborn as a donkey,' plus its long-standing role as the mascot of the U.S. Democratic Party.
What 🫏 means
A donkey standing in profile, long ears up. The 🫏 Donkey emoji (Emoji 15.0, September 2022) covers the hardworking animal itself, farm life, and — because language never misses a chance — stubbornness in all its forms.
In the US it also carries political meaning as the Democratic Party's symbol, giving 🐘 its long-missing counterpart.
How and when to use it
- Farm, trail, and travel content: "The 🫏 carried our bags up the canyon like it was nothing."
- For lovable stubbornness: "Asked him to try the new place. He ordered the same thing 🫏"
- US election threads finally have both mascots: 🫏 vs 🐘.
The lowdown
- Category
- Animals & Nature › animal-mammal
- Codepoints
U+1FACF- Emoji version
- Emoji 15.0
- Shortcodes
:donkey:- Keywords
- animal, ass, burro, donkey, hinny, mammal, mule, stubborn
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.
⚡ Quick round
Which joined the keyboard first — 🫏 Donkey or ⚓ Anchor?