🙊

Speak-no-evil Monkey Emoji 🙊

Hands sealing its mouth shut, the speak-no-evil monkey is iwazaru, the last of the Three Wise Monkeys. It's used for keeping a secret, biting back a comment, or the classic 'I said too much' — sometimes flipped ironically to imply the opposite, that something juicy is about to come out.

What 🙊 means

A brown monkey face with little ears, big eyes, and its cute paws covering the mouth. The character that inspired this emoji is part of the Three Wise Monkeys philosophy of Japanese folklore.

The 🙊 Speak-No-Evil Monkey emoji can be relatable on a lot of levels and not just evil. It also signifies keeping a secret, staying quiet, keeping it low, or just refraining from talking or even singing.

How and when to use it

If someone just told you a secret over text and they told you to take it to the grave, send this emoji in response, as a way of agreeing to the T.
You can also send this emoji to signal that a particular conversation, person, or even social media post left you speechless (mostly in a negative and awkward way).
Send this emoji if someone told you to stop being so nosy and asking so many questions.
If someone just told you that you sing bad, feel bad about it and send this emoji in return (then, show up at their place with something throwable 🙊). (jk).
This emoji can also be used in contexts where your POV is absolutely south of what the conversation is, just send this emoji.
It can be used to replace the phrase "Oops!" as well.

Other Names

🙊 Speechless
🙊 Voiceless
🙊 Shut Up
🙊 Apologize
🙊 Keep it Low
🙊 Keep a Secret
🙊 Secretive
🙊 Shocked
🙊 Oops
🙊 Sorry

🙊 in real conversations

What does 🙊 mean when someone says too much?

It's the emoji equivalent of clapping a hand over your own mouth right after the words are already out — 'oops, I wasn't supposed to say that.' It shows up the second someone realizes they've overshared, spilled a secret, or made a comment they can't take back, more embarrassed than sorry.

Is 🙊 always about keeping a secret?

Not always — it flips easily. Sometimes it means genuinely biting back a comment, and sometimes it's the opposite, a wink that something juicy is coming: 'guess who I saw last night 🙊' isn't hiding anything, it's teasing that the real story is about to spill. Context decides whether the mouth stays shut or is already halfway open.

What's the difference between 🙊 and 🙉?

🙊 covers the mouth — it's about what's said or held back, a secret, an overshare, gossip about to leak. 🙉 covers the ears, about what's being blocked out instead, like tuning out drama you don't want to hear. Same set of Three Wise Monkeys, different job: one guards what comes out, the other guards what gets in.

The lowdown

Category: Smileys & Emotion › monkey-face
Codepoints: U+1F64A
Emoji version: Emoji 0.6
Shortcodes: :speak_no_evil:
Keywords: animal, evil, face, forbidden, gesture, monkey, no, not, oops, prohibited, quiet, secret, speak, stealth

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.