Is there an emoji for grief?

You open the keyboard to reply to someone whose person has died, and you scroll. Past the crying faces, past the praying hands, past a heart in every colour. None of them is quite it.

There is no grief emoji. There is a whole row for pizza.

So people improvise, and they are surprisingly good at it.

What people send when someone dies

The ones this community reaches for most:

• 🤍 The white heart. Quiet, not romantic, not loud. It says I love you, and I'm not going to make this about me.
• 🫂 The hug, for when you would be there in person if you could.
• 🕊️ The dove, for peace, and for people who find a heart too small.
• 🕯️ A candle, lit for them.
• 💔 The broken heart, when you are grieving with them rather than for them.

Any of these works if it arrives with a few words and their person's name. An emoji on its own can land like a shrug. "💔 I'm so sorry about your dad. Thinking of you, no need to reply" lands like love. If the words are the hard part, what to actually say has them.

A reaction on a post is not nothing, either. When the news arrives in a group chat or on a feed, a heart on it tells the griever you saw. It just can't be the only thing you send.

The emojis that should exist

When @happy.grieving asked which grief emojis are missing, the answers became a list nobody had written down before, and the comments filled up with "all of them" and "every single day".

• Grief brain. Walking into a room and forgetting why, for years. It's real, and it has its own piece.
• Time stopped. The clocks kept going for everyone else.
• Stopped making sense. Life split into before and after.
• Can't stop crying. In the supermarket, in the car, at an advert.
• Bed rotting. The day you don't get up, and don't apologise for it.
• The grief bubble. The one people said they would send most, because it saves explaining: I'm in it right now, I can't talk, I'm okay-ish.
• When I get a sign. The feather, the song, the number on the clock.
• Insomnia. 3am, again.
• The colours went dull. The one that surprised people most, because so many had felt it and thought it was only them.

And one the comments added themselves: a yes, I'm still grieving emoji. For every time someone assumes that because it's been a year, or five, you must be done.

Why a tiny picture matters

Grief is hard to say out loud and harder to type. When the words don't exist, a picture does the work of you don't have to explain it to me, which is most of what grievers want from the people around them anyway.

So if you're grieving and an emoji is all you've got in you today, send the emoji. It counts.

Questions people also ask

What emoji do you send when someone dies?

🤍 or 🫂 are the safest: warm, quiet, not dramatic. 🕊️ and 🕯️ suit people who find hearts too casual. Whichever you choose, add their person's name and "no need to reply".

Is it okay to react with an emoji to a death announcement?

Yes. It tells them you saw. Follow it with a message of your own, even a short one, because a reaction alone can feel like the world scrolling past.

Is the praying hands emoji okay when someone dies?

🙏 is often read as prayer, so it lands differently depending on someone's faith. If you're not sure, 🤍 carries the same care without the question.

More in What to say (and what not to), or browse the whole library.

If it hurts too much right now, start here.