‘Smiling face with tears of joy’ most widely used emoji: Study

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) - The “smiling face with tears of joy” is the most widely used emoji in 75 countries, according to a new study.

There are more than 3,000 emojis available, the website Crossword-Solver revealed in its study.

The face with tears of joy is the most frequently used emoji in 75 countries, according to the study.

According to a survey by the World Emoji Day website, the pink heart takes first place in the most popular new emojis of this year, followed by the shaking face in second, and the light blue heart in third.

Monday marked the 10th anniversary of World Emoji Day. The day celebrates the impact of emojis on communication which add emotional depth to digital conversations with just a few simple symbols.

“Just want to take a moment to acknowledge that today is the 10th annual #WorldEmojiDay! Thank you for celebrating all things emoji with us for the past decade!,” World Emoji Day said on Twitter.

Emoji, a Japanese expression, roughly means “picture word” and was created by Shigetaka Kurita in 1990.

The word emoji comes from the Japanese: "e," picture, "mo," write, and "ji," character.

July 17 was chosen as the date for World Emoji Day because it is the date displayed on the “calendar” emoji, which is widely used across various platforms.

This unique observance was established in 2014 by Jeremy Burge, the founder of Emojipedia, a widely-used online resource for emoji-related information.