इमोटिकॉन

मानक कीबोर्ड वर्णों का उपयोग करके चेहरे की अभिव्यक्ति का टेक्स्ट-आधारित प्रतिनिधित्व, जैसे :-) या :D, जो ग्राफिकल इमोजी से पहले था।

Emoticons ("emotion" + "icon") emerged in the early days of digital communication. Scott Fahlman proposed :-) and :-( on a Carnegie Mellon message board in 1982, though similar practices existed earlier.

Western emoticons are typically read sideways: :-) :D ;-) :'( etc. Japanese-style emoticons (kaomoji) are read straight-on: (^_^) (T_T) (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Many platforms auto-convert emoticons to graphical emoji (e.g., :) → 😊). While emoji have largely superseded emoticons in casual messaging, emoticons remain popular in plain-text contexts and for expressing nuances not covered by standard emoji.