Pinky, index finger, and thumb extended together, the love-you-gesture emoji is the actual American Sign Language sign for 'I love you,' combining the handshapes for I, L, and Y. It's used to express affection the way a heart emoji would, just with a bit more specificity behind it.
What 🤟 means
A raised hand with the thumb, forefinger, and the pinky (little) finger held out while the middle and the ring fingers are tucked into the palm.
Introduced by the American Sign Language, the 🤟 Love You Gesture was first familiarised among deaf children. It is a combination of the acronym ILY, that stands for I Love You.
It was eventually used in a casual context of conveying positive feelings even outside the deaf culture too. Today, this emoji is quite a popular one and is available in the designated skin tones almost across all platforms.
How and when to use it
- As the name suggests, you can use 🤟 emoji to tell someone that you love them.
- This sweet 🤟 emoji can also be used to say that you're happy for someone.
- 🤟 can be used as a positive reaction to something adorable and loving that you came across on social media.
- Use the 🤟 emoji while sending something positive, uplifting, and motivating.
Other Names
- 🤟 I Love You
- 🤟 ILY
- 🤟 Love You
- 🤟 Happy
- 🤟 Affection
- 🤟 Warmth
- 🤟 Kindness
- 🤟 I Love You Hand Sign
🤟 in real conversations
What does 🤟 mean in texting?
It's literally the ASL sign for 'I love you' — thumb, index and pinky extended. Sent on its own, it says exactly that, no further translation needed.
What does 🤟 mean from a girl?
Affection sent easily — to a partner, a best friend, or family, without the weight a plain ❤️ can carry. It reads as warm and casual rather than a big declaration.
Is 🤟 the same as the rock-on sign?
They look almost identical, but the thumb gives it away — 🤟 sticks the thumb out for 'I love you,' while classic rock horns keep the thumb tucked in. Most texters mean the love-you version.
The lowdown
- Category
- People & Body › hand-fingers-partial
- Codepoints
U+1F91F- Emoji version
- Emoji 5.0
- Shortcodes
:love_you_gesture:GitHub · Discord:i_love_you_hand_sign:Slack- Keywords
- fingers, gesture, hand, ILY, love, love-you, three, you
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
Pairs well with
Tap any combo to copy the whole thing.
⚡ Quick round
Which joined the keyboard first — 🤟 Love-you Gesture or ⚾ Baseball?
Runs with a crowd
🤟 keeps company in hand emojis and love emojis — tap-to-copy sets for when one emoji isn't enough.