Emoji dictionary

๐Ÿ‚ Ox emoji

[ย oks ih-moh-jee ]

What does ๐Ÿ‚ Ox emoji mean?

The Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ depicts a brown ox.

The Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ย is commonly used to represent various bovines, includes cows and bulls as well as sports mascots based on them (e.g., the Texas Longhorns). The emoji is frequently used to represent the Western zodiac sign of Taurus and the Chinese zodiac animal of the ox. Starting on February 12 in the Lunar New Year, 2021 is the Year of the Ox.

The Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ is also sometimes used to used represent the slang word bull (“nonsense”) and its stronger cousin, bullshit.

Related words

๐Ÿค  Face with Cowboy Hat emoji, ๐Ÿ‘ฟ Angry Face With Horns emoji, ๐Ÿ’ Monkey emoji, ๐Ÿ– Pig emoji, Chinese New Year emoji, ๐Ÿ’ฉ Pile of Poo emoji

Where does ๐Ÿ‚ Ox emoji come from?

Approved as part of Unicode 6.0 in 2010, the Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ shows a light brown or tan ox, facing left, with curved horns and a long tail.

An ox is a castrated bull used for farm work, but the Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ย is applied to bovines more generally, including as a stand-in for the zodiac sign of the Taurus (bull) in Western astrology and in the Chinese zodiac (Year of the Ox). The Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ย spiked in 2016 thanks to boy band One Direction’sย Niall Horan, who was dating a Taurus. ย 

If the Eggplant  ย and Peach ๐Ÿ‘ย emoji have taught us anything, it’s that people are pretty clever at adapting emoji for their own purposes. And so, because the Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ย looks like a bull, people pair it with the Pile of Pooย emoji ๐Ÿ’ฉ to create the wordย bullshit. Clever.

Examples of ๐Ÿ‚ Ox emoji

Ya girls struck out cancer tonight w/ a run rule win!!!Our undefeated record continues to 10-0!!!Go Longhorns!!! ๐Ÿ‚ โšพ
@CarolineSarris, September 8, 2016
We're ringing in the Year of the Ox as we celebrate #LunarNewYear on Feb. 12! ... ๐Ÿ‚: "Model of an Oxcart" (7th century), Tang dynasty
@mfaboston, January 29, 2021
#MichelleWolff NAILED "the spirit" of the @realDonaldTrump Crime Family & Mob Organization LIES & ๐Ÿ‚ ๐Ÿ’ฉ to a Tee! ๐Ÿ˜‰ /ย She called out their #LIES #Racism #WhiteSupremacy #Islamophobia #Misogyny for what it IS! /ย Further, she called out the Media for not standing against this ๐Ÿ‚ ๐Ÿ’ฉ
@WB_Devitt_III, April 30, 2018
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Who uses ๐Ÿ‚ Ox emoji?

The Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ย sees wide use on social media to express that someone is a Taurus, born roughly betweenย April 20 to about May 21 on the Western calendar, or alongside Taurus-based horoscopes.

In this way, the Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ is frequently paired with the actual Taurus emoji โ™‰.

People of Chinese descent or interested in Chinese culture use the Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ to signify they were born in a Year of the Ox. Expect to see a lot of use for the emoji in 2021, as it is the Year of the Ox, around Chinese New Year.

Sports teams whose mascots are the Bulls or Longhorns love theย Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ on social media, using it with mascot-related slogans like #HookEm or the steer-imitating gesture,ย Sign of the Hornsย emoji ๐Ÿค˜.

As a so-called beast of burden, people sometimes add the Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ย when describing someone as a beast or just an “excellent person,” especially in sports or music.

And, then there’s its use to signify pure bullshit:

Last but not least, people do use the Ox emoji ๐Ÿ‚ย when literally referring to the animal, whether on the farm or at the rodeo. Yeehaw.

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Note

This is not meant to be a formal definition of ๐Ÿ‚ Ox 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 ๐Ÿ‚ Ox emoji that will help our users expand their word mastery.