Emoji Dictionary

🎓 Graduation Cap emoji

[graj-oo-ey-shuh n kap ih-moh-jee]

September 21, 2018

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What does 🎓 Graduation Cap emoji mean?

The graduation cap emoji is an image of a square, black board affixed to a skull cap with a tassel attached at the center, hanging to one side. It’s typically worn by those graduating from high school or college.

The emoji, however, is used in social-media posts about graduation, teaching and school, and also about learning in general.

Where does 🎓 Graduation Cap emoji come from?

The classic graduation cap is also known as a “mortar board,” because of its resemblance to the usually flat pan a bricklayer uses for mortar … weird.

The cap is usually worn with an academic gown, resulting in the phrase, “cap and gown.” The style of the graduation cap is thought to go back to the biretta, a cap worn by Roman Catholic clergy, which evolved to be worn by noblemen and military leaders in the medieval and Renaissance and ages.

It was originally only worn by holders of master’s degrees, but eventually undergraduates and those earning bachelors’ degrees were allowed to wear it too. Now, you can find pint-sized graduate caps for young children.

The graduation cap emoji got it’s degree when it was approved as part of Unicode 6.0 in 2010 and added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015.

Examples of 🎓 Graduation Cap emoji

Who uses 🎓 Graduation Cap emoji?

Whether graduating college or completing an employer-mandated course, people love to use the graduation cap emoji. It’s also used in social-media posts that relate to education and self awareness in a variety of ways. Because nothing says “I learned something!” quite like the graduation cap emoji.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm0zo9wgQQB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Thank you to all our new graduates and their guests for helping to make today's graduation ceremonies so special! 🎓🎓#PlymGrad pic.twitter.com/sUzf0KWWpA

— University of Plymouth (@PlymUni) September 21, 2018

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn9H0thnVB9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

For education posts both big and small, the emoji fits.

Sometimes it's okay to let certain students run in the hallways…. 😀 Future Achieve Online–Digital School graduates! 🎓 pic.twitter.com/Q25nWfw9QL

— John Bailey (@MrJohnBailey33) September 21, 2018

And, who says all graduation caps are the same?

Rare picture of a 'UniPOT' Graduate on convocation day 🎓 🎓 pic.twitter.com/EyguRR8VS3

— Jubril A. Gawat (@Mr_JAGs) September 21, 2018