Emoji dictionary
🕊️ Dove of Peace emoji
[duhv uhv pees ih-moh-jee]
What does 🕊️ Dove of Peace emoji mean?
The dove of peace emoji or dove emoji was originally designed to be a religious symbol that resonated with Christian and Jewish users as well as a symbol for peace.
However, users have adopted this symbol for secular use to simply mean bird and to express a love for the beauty of nature.
Where does 🕊️ Dove of Peace emoji come from?
The dove of peace emoji shows a white bird, mid-flight clutching a sprig of green in its yellow beak. While Google shows the bird as flat and cartoon-like, Apple adds more details to give it a three dimensional look. Microsoft surrounds their bird with a thick black border.
Emojipedia
That sprig of green is mean to be an olive branch. In the Old Testament of the Bible, a dove appears to Noah, a profit God saved from a global flood sent to cleanse the Earth of sin. Noah sends a dove out from his ark and the dove returns with an olive branch in its beak showing the flood waters have gone down. Christians regard the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit and God’s peace.
This is the background for the emoji, which was approved by the Unicode Consortium in 2015 along with other spiritual emojis meant to provide a greater representation of the world’s religions. These included three different types of crosses and the Sanskrit meditation sound “OM.”
Examples of 🕊️ Dove of Peace emoji
Who uses 🕊️ Dove of Peace emoji?
Reflecting the religion intention of the dove of peace emoji, Christians and other religious people use this emoji in posts about religious ceremonies like baptisms and church services as well as in posts indicating a need of prayers.
We had a day of silence for the victims of the #LimousineCrash tragedy.
We #pray for all those who lost loved ones. #Limousines are known as safe transportation for events. When a terrible event like this happens, we are all shaken and grieve together. 🙏🙏🕊️— CruisePortLimo.com (@CruisePortLIMOS) October 10, 2018
Happy #NationalComingOutDay! Let us remember our LGBTQ+ family around the world who still live in highly dangerous situations and active persecution. I pray one day everyone will be accepted for who they are 🙌🏻🏳️🌈🕊️ https://t.co/WoyIxuGuTu
— Lizzie Gawen (@lizziegawen) October 11, 2018
But, you don’t have to be religious to use the dove of peace emoji. Bird and nature lovers use the dove emoji to express their appreciation for the beauty of the natural world and their excitement about bird sightings.
You will often see the dove emoji in posts related to the Audubon Society, a bird-focused conservation organization.
Bird is the word. And bird is a verb. "This camp cup made the envy of bird camp" Audubon bird camp that is… 🕊️ https://t.co/KSZzJkRV6P pic.twitter.com/XYFnvZTIWC
— Sally Bergesen (@oiselle_sally) July 13, 2018
Building off that, the dove emoji is also used to express love and excitement about things are aren’t actual birds but reference birds or have the word bird in them.
Doves are pretty, and, so, you can use this emoji to say someone looks pretty in their post.
The dove of peace emoji can also signal peace in a secular context. If you are feuding with a pal and are ready to make amends, send them a small dove emoji as if to say “I don’t want to fight anymore.”
It is also used in posts about loved ones who have passed away to signal “rest in peace.” Finally, it can mean peace on a global scale.
🕊️Happy @UNPeacekeeping day! 🕊️
Today, we pay tribute to women #ServingForPeace, who often risk their lives to protect others. They are role models & an inspiration to us all. pic.twitter.com/kNGR6OsZEu— UN Women (@UN_Women) May 29, 2018
Finally, Prince fans use the dove emoji as a reference to his 1984 power ballad “When Doves Cry.”
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of 🕊️ Dove of Peace emoji like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of 🕊️ Dove of Peace emoji that will help our users expand their word mastery.