Kaomoji Copy and Paste

Kaomoji are faces made from letters and symbols. Tap one to copy it, then paste it into a chat, a bio or a caption.

Happy and cheerful

Bright, friendly faces for good news, greetings and thank-yous.

The word kaomoji comes from Japanese and means "face letters". Unlike emoji, which are small pictures, a kaomoji is built from ordinary characters: brackets for the head, symbols for eyes and a mouth, and sometimes arms and sparkles on the sides. Because they are text, they work in any place where you can type, and they look slightly different depending on the font.

This page is a general starter set sorted by mood. It covers the feelings people reach for most often: happy, shy, excited, sleepy, surprised, playful, huggy, sad and grumpy. When you want a more specific style, the pages for cute faces, heart faces and cat faces go deeper, and you can find them in the links below the list.

Kaomoji are read sideways, not tilted, which is the main difference from western emoticons such as a colon and a bracket. That is why they can carry more expression. A tiny change in the eyes or the mouth changes the whole mood, so it is worth scrolling through a few before you pick one.

Shy and blushing

Faces that hide a little. Useful when you want to say something sweet without making a fuss.

Excited and sparkly

For celebrations, big reactions and the moment something good finally happens.

Sleepy and chill

Quiet faces for tired days, late nights and slow Sundays.

Surprised and confused

Reactions for plot twists, odd questions and things that need a second look.

Playful and teasing

A wink, a smirk or a small dare. Good for jokes between friends.

Hugs and waves

Greetings, goodbyes and virtual hugs.

Sad and teary

For comfort, apologies and rough days. The sad kaomoji page has a larger set.

Grumpy and fed up

Not-quite-angry faces, plus the famous table flip and its tidy-up.

How to copy and use kaomoji

  1. Tap a face to copy it. The tray at the bottom collects the faces you tap, which is handy if you want to send two or three in a row.
  2. Paste it into your chat, comment, bio or caption. On a phone, long press the text field and choose Paste.
  3. Add a space before and after if the face touches words, because some apps merge brackets with the text next to them.
  4. If a face looks broken, such as a box in place of an eye, the app is missing a font for one of the symbols. Pick another face; the simple ones with plain brackets are the safest.
  5. Use kaomoji at the end of a sentence like punctuation. One per message is usually enough.

Questions people ask

What does kaomoji mean?

It is a Japanese word that combines kao, meaning face, and moji, meaning character. It describes faces drawn using text characters.

Are kaomoji the same as emoji?

No. Emoji are tiny images that come with your phone or app. Kaomoji are strings of ordinary characters, so you can paste them into any text field, and you can edit them.

Why do some kaomoji break or show boxes?

Each face uses several different characters, and some phones or apps do not have a font for all of them. The faces made from plain brackets and common symbols are the most reliable.

Can I use kaomoji in usernames?

Many apps refuse them in usernames, because the brackets and symbols are not on their allowed list. They are fine in most bios, comments and messages, but check each app.

116 items on this page. Last reviewed 2026-10-23.