Food Emoji Meanings
One row per food character: the official Unicode name, the codepoint, the plain reading, and the second reading people actually use it for, with a note on where that second reading holds and where it does not.
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The face people are searching for
A lot of “food emoji meaning” traffic is really one smiley: the grinning face with the tongue out over one lip. Unicode names it with the British spelling, “face savouring delicious food”, which is why both spellings turn up results and why the American “savoring” version looks like a different character. It is a face, not a food, so it sits outside the food and drink set this site copies. Its meaning is the simple one: the food was good, or is about to be.
Savory
| Character | Unicode name | Codepoint | Plain reading | Also used for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🍔 | Hamburger | U+1F354 | A burger | Fast food in general, an American meal |
| 🍕 | Slice Of Pizza | U+1F355 | One slice | Delivery, a night in, a shared order |
| 🍟 | French Fries | U+1F35F | Fries in a carton | A takeaway order, a side |
| 🌭 | Hot Dog | U+1F32D | A hot dog in a bun | Ballparks, street food |
| 🌮 | Taco | U+1F32E | A folded taco | Mexican food, Tuesday |
| 🍣 | Sushi | U+1F363 | Nigiri on rice | Japanese food, a treat meal |
| 🍜 | Steaming Bowl | U+1F35C | A bowl of ramen | Comfort food, a cheap dinner |
| 🍞 | Bread | U+1F35E | A sliced loaf | Carbs, baking, money in some slang |
| 🧀 | Cheese Wedge | U+1F9C0 | A wedge with holes | “Say cheese”, a photo, cheesiness |
| 🥚 | Egg | U+1F95A | A shell egg | Breakfast, baking, something fragile |
Sweet
| Character | Unicode name | Codepoint | Plain reading | Also used for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🍰 | Shortcake | U+1F370 | A slice of layered cake | Celebration, “a piece of cake” |
| 🍪 | Cookie | U+1F36A | A chocolate chip cookie | A small reward; browser cookies in tech posts |
| 🍫 | Chocolate Bar | U+1F36B | A part-unwrapped bar | A gift, comfort, an apology |
| 🍯 | Honey Pot | U+1F36F | A pot with a dipper | Sweetness, a name for someone |
| 🍩 | Doughnut | U+1F369 | A glazed ring | Police jokes, a zero, breakfast |
| 🍦 | Soft Ice Cream | U+1F366 | A soft-serve cone | Summer, a small treat |
Fruit
Fruit carries more second meanings than the rest of the set put together, and the second meanings are the ones people are usually checking. Peach is read as a backside far more often than as a peach in casual chat. Banana and cherries both carry suggestive readings. Lemon means a bad purchase in American English, and tomato is used for being pelted, not for salad. The full table lives on fruit emoji meanings.
Drink
Beer Mug reads as the end of the working day. Hot Beverage has a deliberately neutral Unicode name but every vendor draws coffee, so it reads as coffee. Teacup Without Handle is the gossip one. Those readings are worked through on drink emoji meanings, and the tea case in particular on tea emoji.
Where the second reading does not hold
In a menu, a recipe, a shop listing or an accessibility label, the literal reading is the only one, and a screen reader will read the official name out loud regardless of what you meant. Figurative readings also split by age group and by language: the fruit ones in particular do not travel. If the person on the other end might take it literally, they will. The single-character case for pizza is spelled out on pizza emoji meaning, and the copy grid for all of these is on food emoji.