Emoji dictionary
๐ Rainbow emoji
[reyn-boh ih-moh-jee]
What does ๐ Rainbow emoji mean?
The rainbow emoji ๐ย depicts a colorful arc of a rainbow. When not representing the meteorological phenomenon, the emoji can express various positive emotions, such as happiness, feelings of togetherness, hope, and good fortune. Along with the rainbow flag emoji ๐ณ๏ธโ๐, it’s commonly used to express LGBTQ identity and pride.
Where does ๐ Rainbow emoji come from?
The rainbow emoji was added to Unicode 6.0 in 2016. Apple first implemented the emoji under iOS 2.2 in 2008 for iPhones in Japan, where the cell phone carriers SoftBank and au by KDDI had featured early versions of the emoji since 2000 and 2003, respectively.
I love the rainbow emoji.๐๐๐๐๐๐ pic.twitter.com/7v8aT3jp7i
— Nancy Tant Official (Nancycatsings)๐ (@Nancycatsings) July 17, 2018
Across major platforms, the rainbow emojiย displays as an arc with most of the traditional colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Sorry, indigo. Facebook, however, does include an indigo band in its design, displayed in a blue sky. WhatsApp’s design has the rainbow emanating from a white cloud.
Emojipedia
With its diverse colors coming together into one, the rainbow has been a symbol of LGBTQ pride since 1978.ย That year, San Francisco politician and iconic gay rights activist Harvey Milk commissionedย Gilbert Baker, a drag queen and US military veteran, to create a new flag to represent the LGBTQ community.
In 2015, after the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, self-described โqueer trans feminist nerdโ Noah Slater requested the Unicode Consortiumโthe organization that approves new emojisโadd a rainbow flag that โunambiguously symbolizes queer pride.โ Unicode took action in 2016, making available aย rainbow flagย emoji as a sequence of the white flagย emojiย ๐ณ๏ธย and rainbow emojiย ๐, yieldingย ๐ณ๏ธโ๐.
Examples of ๐ Rainbow emoji
Who uses ๐ Rainbow emoji?
Theย rainbow emoji is often used, of course, when commenting on pictures of rainbows …
You know it's going to be a good day when … ๐โ2๏ธโฃ pic.twitter.com/f8cTkEmGsM
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 31, 2019
… or other moments of natural splendor.
Thank you God, for the painted sky๐โ๏ธ๐ #godisgood #nofilter #nature pic.twitter.com/aU0G4ZRhWZ
— Lily Nelsen (@LilyNelsenMusic) February 10, 2017
Given that they are beautiful and special, rainbows, including in their emoji form, can express various positive feelings, such as happiness and togetherness.
literally no one:
us: HAPPY #WORLDOTTERDAY HERE'S 20 SEC OF SEA OTTERS EATING <3
everyone: ๐๐ฅฐ๐พ๐๐ซโค๏ธ~*~ oMg DaY mAdE ~*~๐๐โฎ๏ธ๐๐ค๐ pic.twitter.com/7IdTXCJlNt
— Oregon Coast Aquarium (@orcoastaquarium) May 29, 2019
Rainbows also figure prominently in myth and story. They are associated with luck, thanks to Irish tales of leprechauns hiding pots of gold at the end of rainbows. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, rainbows are associated with hope, as God issued a rainbow after Noah’s Flood as a covenant never to destroy life. These associations may also come into play in uses of theย rainbowย emoji.
goodluck on your future guys ๐๐ป see you when i see you ๐โจ iโm gonna miss you guys for sure ๐ญ pic.twitter.com/3HBPWaIAFX
— Alif Firdaus (@_aliffirdaus_) May 31, 2019
I never had enough validation growing up…I turned to God but did not find him in the world. After many years of seeking, soul searching and taking accountability His Fruit is beginning to blossom within me.๐๐บ๐๐ pic.twitter.com/Rixn7DYi6Z
— Enyiah (@JEnyiah) May 28, 2019
Very frequently, the rainbow emoji is used for various LGBTQ content, including identifying as LGBTQ, LGBTQ activism, and celebrating LGBTQ pride, especially during Pride Month in June.
Happy PRIDE Month! ๐โค๏ธ๐งก๐๐๐๐ pic.twitter.com/LDZ5uJcgIb
— ๋ ๋ (@nnuknnuk) May 31, 2019
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of ๐ Rainbow 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 ๐ Rainbow emoji that will help our users expand their word mastery.