The grimacing face emoji shows a face with wide eyes and a tightly clenched, tooth-baring grimace. It expresses awkward discomfort or cringe — the face you make after an accident, a blunder, or an uncomfortable situation, similar to wincing and saying "yikes, that's rough."
What 😬 means
A yellow face with big, round eyes and a straight, wide-open, and tightly-toothed mouth. This emoji suggests awkwardness and an overall sense of discomfort.
The 😬 Grimacing Face signifies a sense of cluelessness and cringe, the kind where you just smile, not knowing what to do, and wishing you were invisible. It shows a feeling of being extremely uncomfortable or even embarrassed, in a conversation or a situation.
How and when to use it
- If someone brought up an embarrassing conversation, send this emoji as a sign of discomfort.
- If someone just asked you something really awkward on text, send this emoji to show that you're not comfortable answering the question or continuing the chat.
- If you're nervous in a conversation or about something within the conversation, use this emoji to show that.
- If you're being having a conversation where you'd rather have a foot in your mouth, send this emoji.
Other Names
- 😬 Awkward Face
- 😬 Cringe
- 😬 Embarrassment
- 😬 Foot in Mouth
- 😬 Uncomfortable
- 😬 Nervousness
- 😬 Nervous
- 😬 Anxious
- 😬 Eek
- 😬 Awkward
😬 Made a Mistake
😬 in real conversations
What does 😬 mean from a girl?
“Yikes.” A sympathetic wince at something awkward, or the nervous face attached to a message like “so… tiny problem 😬.”
What does 😬 mean from a guy?
Bracing for impact — he knows the thing he's about to say (or just did) might not go over well. Also pure secondhand embarrassment.
What does 😬 mean in texting?
Awkwardness, tension, or a soft “oops.” It's the face you make while delivering iffy news, and it does a lot of apologizing without the word sorry.
The lowdown
- Category
- Smileys & Emotion › face-neutral-skeptical
- Codepoints
U+1F62C- Emoji version
- Emoji 1.0
- Shortcodes
:grimacing:- Keywords
- awk, awkward, dentist, face, grimace, grimacing, grinning, smile, smiling
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 — 😬 Grimacing Face or 🧑🏫 Teacher?