Puffed, reddened cheeks and glassy eyes on the verge of spilling over — the face holding back tears captures that exact moment of trying to stay composed. It exploded after its 2021 release into the internet's go-to for happy tears, proud-parent moments, and anything so wholesome it gets someone right in the feels.
What 🥹 means
A yellow emoji face with a pair of teary eyes, converging eyebrows, and a but slightly open wide mouth showing no teeth. The eyes and some of the expression is similar to the 🥺 Pleading Face emoji.
The 🥹 Face Holding Back Tears emoji signifies deep sentiment. It suggests an emotionally vulnerable moment that could be caused by something sad, happy, proud, angry, or anything that softens the heart a little. It could also be the prelude to a full-blown breakdown.
How and when to use it
- If someone sent you something sweet, heartwarming, heartbreaking, sad, or even said something evoking any of these emotions, you could respond with this emoji as it does say "Don't make me cry".
- You may also use this emoji while commenting on moving, inspirational, or heart-wrenching content on social media. It could be an emotional photo, video, quote, anything.
- If someone made you so proud that you actually cried or had tears in your eyes, you can let them know that you're super proud of them with this emoji.
- If you encountered something beautiful online and you felt this amazing sense of gratitude, then too, this emoji covers for you. Similarly, you can use this emoji even while saying thank you to someone who did something really thoughtful for you/others.
- Holding one's tears back is a sign of strength for some people (although it ain't). So, if you're trying to describe emotional strength or/and resistance, you may apply this emoji.
Other Names
- 🥹 Teary-Eyed Face
- 🥹 Face With Teary Eyes
- 🥹 About-to-Breakdown Face
- 🥹 Choking Face (with overwhelming emotion)
- 🥹 Proud Face
- 🥹 Tearing Up
- 🥹 Sad Face
- 🥹 Angry Face
- 🥹 Emotional Face
🥹 in real conversations
What does 🥹 mean from a girl?
She's trying not to cry — happy tears, proud tears, or genuinely moved, not sad ones by default. It's the step past 🥺: something actually got to her, not just something cute.
What does 🥹 mean from a guy?
Often triggered by pride more than sadness — a promotion, a kid's first steps, a friend finally hitting a goal. The tears he's holding back are the good kind.
What does 🥹 mean in texting?
The face for “I'm not crying, you're crying.” It covers happy, sad and proud tears alike — the caption around it decides which, not the emoji itself.
The lowdown
- Category
- Smileys & Emotion › face-concerned
- Codepoints
U+1F979- Emoji version
- Emoji 14.0
- Shortcodes
:face_holding_back_tears:- Keywords
- admiration, aww, back, cry, embarrassed, face, feelings, grateful, gratitude, holding, joy, please, proud, resist, sad, tears
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.
Pairs well with
Tap any combo to copy the whole thing.
⚡ Quick round
Which joined the keyboard first — 🥹 Face Holding Back Tears or ⚫ Black Circle?
Runs with a crowd
🥹 keeps company in sad emojis — tap-to-copy sets for when one emoji isn't enough.