Abbreviation for emotion icon. In electronic communication, a multi-character symbol, created with ASCII characters, to express emotions and physical characteristics that would normally be communicated by body language and facial expressions in face-to-face communication. Note: Emoticons are most often used in informal e-mail messages and newsgroup postings and are usually designed to be viewed sideways. Some examples of emoticons are:
| Symbol | Meaning | Why? |
| :-) | happiness | a smiley face |
| :-( | unhappiness, disappointment | a frown |
| ;-) | slyness, "just kidding" | a wink |
| :-o | surprise, shock | open mouth |
| :-\ | irony | tilted mouth |