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TikTok Secret Emojis: All 46 Codes
TikTok has 46 hidden emojis of its own. Type a code in square brackets, like [happy], into a comment or caption in the TikTok app and it turns into TikTok's emoji. Tap any code below to copy it.
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Tap a code to copy it · paste it into a TikTok comment or caption
How do you use TikTok's secret emojis?
In the TikTok app, on iPhone or Android:
- Tap a code above to copy it, or type it yourself: the word in square brackets, with no spaces, like [laughwithtears].
- Paste it into a comment, a reply or a video caption.
- Post it. TikTok shows its own emoji in place of the code.
How do we know these 46 codes work?
TikTok does not document them anywhere, so we counted. On 26 October 2026 we read 1,104 public comments on twelve TikTok videos about secret emojis. Every one of the 46 codes above appeared in them at least 50 times; the next most common bracketed word, a misspelled [crying], appeared 13 times. They are the same 46, in the same order, that Emojipedia lists.
The count also shows how the codes work: TikTok keeps the comment as the text [happy] and draws the emoji when it displays it. That is why a code copied out of TikTok into another app arrives as plain text in brackets.
Which code is the happy, cry or shy TikTok emoji?
The codes are named in plain words, so most searches have an exact match. The ones people look for most:
| Searching for | Code |
|---|---|
| Happy | [happy], also [joyful] and [smile] |
| Cry or crying | [cry], [weep] and [tears] |
| Laughing | [laugh] and [laughwithtears] |
| Shy | [wronged], which Emojipedia describes as the shy, bashful one |
| Smirk or smug | [complacent], whose name means smug |
| Blush or embarrassed | [embarrassed] and [flushed] |
| Angry | [angry] and [rage] |
| Shock or surprised | [shock], [surprised], [astonish] and [stun] |
| Proud | [proud]; [pride] is a separate emoji |
| Cute | [cute] |
| In love or heart eyes | [loveface] |
| Eye roll | [facewithrollingeyes] |
| Scream | [scream] and [shout] |
Why isn't a TikTok emoji code working?
Almost always one of these:
- A typo. The code has to match exactly: [laughwithtears], not [laugh with tears] or [crying]. Copying it from the list above avoids that.
- Round brackets or a space. Only square brackets work, with nothing inside them but the word.
- Not the TikTok app. The emojis are drawn by the app. Pasted anywhere else, the code stays text.
- An old version of the app. Update TikTok and try again.
What do emojis mean on TikTok?
Besides the hidden 46, ordinary emojis pick up meanings of their own in TikTok comments. The common ones, per Emojipedia's TikTok page, with the caveat that none of them is universal:
- 💀 Skull: "I'm dead", as in that was so funny; used where 😂 used to be.
- ✨ Sparkles: emphasis, often sarcastic, like air quotes.
- 🤡 Clown: calling someone foolish.
- 🧍 Person standing: standing there awkwardly, or "I don't know what I just watched".
- 👁👄👁: watching closely, a little too engrossed.
- 🪑 Chair: a filler with no fixed meaning, used to confuse as much as anything.
- 🥺👉👈: shy or bashful, the same mood as [wronged].
Can you use TikTok emojis outside TikTok?
No. They are TikTok's own artwork, drawn only inside the app, so in a text message, on Instagram or in a document the code stays as words in brackets. Images of them that circulate as PNG files or sticker packs are copies of TikTok's designs, not something TikTok offers.
Inside TikTok they work anywhere you can type: comments, replies and captions. To see how people are using them under a particular video, the TikTok comment viewer lists its comments and lets you search for a code.