🤦

Person Facepalming Emoji 🤦

A hand pressed flat against the forehead, eyes shut — that's the facepalm, the emoji version of smh. It gets dropped whenever someone (often the sender) says or does something so cringeworthy there's nothing left to say. Secondhand embarrassment, disbelief, 'I can't even' — all covered by one palm to the face.

What 🤦 means

Short, side-parted hair tops this gender-neutral figure, who covers most of the face with the left palm. This emoji aligns very closely with the emotion evoked by the social media abbreviation, SMH (Shaking My Head).

The 🤦 Person Facepalming emoji refers to feelings of unease, disappointment, instant regret, and embarrassment in a broader sense. It can also signify low-key guilt. This emoji is available in the designated skin tones on almost all platforms.

How and when to use it

🤦 comes handy especially when you don't want to be disclosing your identity on social media. You can use this emoji as a reaction to posts that are embarrassing and cringe AF.
You can also use 🤦 when your buddy tells you something extremely stupid and careless he/she did.
If you're the one telling someone about something silly and disappointing that you did, or unexpectedly (or not) happened in your life, you can use 🤦 in such contexts.
🤦 can also be used in ironic contexts, like you watching or reading something entirely different from what you knew about someone or something.
If someone dearly close to you set out to embarrass you again, then you can use 🤦 while telling someone about it.

Other Names

🤦 Embarrassed
🤦 Disappointed
🤦 Regret
🤦 Guilt
🤦 Shame
🤦 Disgrace
🤦 Awful
🤦 Terrible
🤦 Cringy
🤦 Gross
🤦 Ew
🤦 SMH (Shaking My Head)
🤦 Facepalm
🤦 Hitting Head
🤦 Man Facepalm
🤦 Face Palm
🤦 Why You No Understand

🤦 in real conversations

What does 🤦 mean from a girl?

The universal 'I can't believe this' gesture — hand slapped to her forehead over a friend's bad decision, a public embarrassment, or her own mistake. It reads as exasperation more than real anger, the same energy as saying 'smh' out loud.

What does 🤦 mean from a guy?

Usually self-directed frustration — missing an easy shot, forgetting something he swore he'd handle, or watching a friend do something painfully avoidable. It's a face-palm standing in for 'I should've known better,' no extra words needed.

What does 🤦 mean in texting?

Disbelief and secondhand embarrassment, aimed at someone else's screwup or the sender's own. 'He texted his ex again 🤦' needs no follow-up — the gesture alone delivers the eye-roll, complaint and judgment all in one motion.

The lowdown

Category: People & Body › person-gesture
Codepoints: U+1F926
Emoji version: Emoji 3.0
Shortcodes: :facepalm: GitHub · Discord:face_palm: Slack · Discord:person_facepalming: Discord
Keywords: again, bewilder, disbelief, exasperation, facepalm, no, not, oh, omg, person, shock, smh

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.