The Black Heart Emoji Has Become Far More Common Than the Classic Red One

Millennials might have been here at the birth of all of the great emojis, but Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids are taking them over to give different emojis new meanings. It's the circle of life, really, and it's why some people still don't quite understand what the black heart emoji means. It looks just like the classic, standard, red heart emoji, but it's black instead.

It turns out, there is a meaning behind its color and why it's significant for those who use the black heart emoji in texts or social media posts. Unlike the eggplant and peach emojis, its meaning is pretty innocent. But if you see people using the black heart emoji more than other colors of the rainbow, you might need to know what it actually means.

According to Merriam-Webster, the black heart emoji is used similarly to the red heart emoji in social media posts and texts. Except, with the black heart, the meaning of love or affection is less direct. The online dictionary says that the black heart emoji "is used somewhat less for direct expressions of romantic or familial love and affection" when compared to the red or pink heart emojis. Of course, you can still use those instead, but apparently, the black heart isn't as strong of a message.

There is another interpretation of the black heart emoji, though. Per Emojipedia, the black heart emoji can also be used to convey sorrow or used in a post or text about something that is more morbid in nature. Even so, overall, the black heart emoji is still used to symbolize love and affection for many, even if some users add it to a dark post on Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter).

Not all emojis have been around forever, though. The black heart emoji wasn't even part of most phones' keyboards until 2016, according to Merriam-Webster. Around that time, users posted on X to share their excitement over "finally" getting the black heart emoji that they had wanted for a while.

"Apple is making a black heart emoji. I'm blessed thank you Apple you da realest fruit," one user posted in 2016.

Another wrote, "The black heart emoji is finally a thing!!"

It's no secret that there are some interesting meanings behind the water droplet emoji, the eggplant, and the peach. But the skull emoji also has a meaning now that was likely not its intended use when it first came out on smartphones. According to the British Council organization, the skull emoji is used, more often than not, to show that something is really funny.

It usually goes hand in hand with someone commenting, "dead" on a funny viral video on social media. Maybe the black heart emoji isn't as hard to read as the skull or other emojis with double and triple meanings, but it's another one that has people guessing at times.