Unicode Standard 9.0 is official with 72 new emoji like shrug, avocado, gorilla, and more!
Emoji are the future of communication -- according to some folks, at least. Quite frankly, I find that they aren't so Earth-shattering. The written word is merely the use of letters as visual representations of things, right? Well, emoji are visual representations of things too. The word "APPLE" and "?" are arguably the same. Emoji that represent facial expressions ? can even enhance things, better expressing emotion.
Today, Unicode Version 9.0 becomes official, with a ton of new characters. What many folks will be excited about, however, is new emoji! There are 72 new emoji to be exact, and there are some great ones. Like what, you ask? How about shrug, avocado, gorilla, eagle, and more!
"Version 9.0 of the Unicode Standard is now available. Version 9.0 adds exactly 7,500 characters, for a total of 128,172 characters. These additions include six new scripts and 72 new emoji characters", says the Unicode Consortium.
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Keep in mind, however, these 72 new emoji are not the entirety of Unicode Standard 9.0. For instance, the consortium shares support for some very rare languages as seen below.
- Osage, a Native American language
- Nepal Bhasa, a language of Nepal
- Fulani and other African languages
- The Bravanese dialect of Swahili, used in Somalia
- The Warsh orthography for Arabic, used in North and West Africa
- Tangut, a major historic script of China
If you want to see all of the new emoji, you can view them here. Which new emoji is your favorite? Tell me in the comments.
Photo credit: Irina Strelnikova / Shutterstock