The handshake emoji with a dark skin tone and a medium skin tone (🫱🏿🫲🏽) means agreement, partnership, and greeting between two people of different backgrounds. It shows a right hand and a left hand clasping, each with its own skin tone. People send it to seal a deal, welcome someone, or celebrate cooperation.
What Does the Handshake: Dark Skin Tone, Medium Skin Tone Emoji Mean?
This emoji means a deal, an agreement, or a friendly greeting, with the two hands shown in different skin tones to emphasize that two different people are involved.
The image shows two hands meeting in a clasp. The hand coming in from the left side of the image has a dark skin tone, and the hand coming in from the right has a medium skin tone. Because the colors differ, the emoji reads as a handshake between two distinct individuals instead of a single generic gesture.
The core meanings are the same as the classic handshake: trust, mutual respect, and a promise kept or about to be made. The two-tone version adds a layer of personal representation. It lets two people, or a group, show who is actually shaking hands, which is why it is popular in messages about collaboration, friendship, and inclusion.
Quick meaning summary
- Agreement: "We have a deal."
- Greeting: a friendly hello or introduction.
- Partnership: two people or teams working together.
- Respect: thanks or goodwill after a conversation or negotiation.
How Is This Emoji Built, and What Is Its Unicode Data?
This emoji is a ZWJ (zero width joiner) sequence made of five code points: U+1FAF1, U+1F3FF, U+200D, U+1FAF2, and U+1F3FD.
The first part, U+1FAF1, is "rightwards hand" followed by U+1F3FF, the dark skin tone modifier. Then comes the joiner character U+200D, which tells your device to merge the pieces into one image. Next is U+1FAF2, "leftwards hand," followed by U+1F3FD, the medium skin tone modifier.
The sequence belongs to the People & Body category. It was introduced in Unicode 14.0 and Emoji 14.0, which is why older phones and computers may show it as two separate hands instead of a single handshake. Its shortcode is :handshake_dark_skin_tone_medium_skin_tone:.
Before this update, the standard handshake emoji (🤝) existed only in a yellow default tone and could not show two different skin tones. The newer sequence fixed that by building the handshake from two single hands, each with its own tone modifier.
How Do You Use the Handshake: Dark Skin Tone, Medium Skin Tone Emoji?
Use it whenever you want to show a deal, a welcome, or cooperation between two people, and you want the image to reflect different skin tones.
Closing a deal or agreement
In work chats and business messages, it works as a friendly confirmation that both sides are aligned.
- Contract signed, thanks for a smooth process 🫱🏿🫲🏽
- Terms agreed on both sides, we start Monday 🫱🏿🫲🏽
Greeting someone new
It can stand in for a physical handshake when introducing yourself or welcoming a new teammate, client, or neighbor.
- Great to finally meet you, welcome to the team 🫱🏿🫲🏽
Celebrating collaboration
Because the image shows two different hands joining, it suits posts about partnerships, joint projects, community events, and friendships that cross backgrounds.
What Does the Two-Tone Handshake Emoji Mean in Texting and on Social Media?
In casual texting, it usually means "deal," "agreed," or "we're good," and on social media it signals partnership, unity, or a collaboration announcement.
In a one-on-one text, it can end an argument or a negotiation on a positive note. Friends use it after settling plans, splitting a bill, or making peace. A reply of 🫱🏿🫲🏽 to a proposal reads as "I'm in."
On social media, brands and creators post it alongside news of a new partnership, a sponsorship, or a team-up. Community groups and nonprofits use it for events that bring people together. The mixed skin tones make it a natural fit for posts about diversity and inclusion, though it works just as well for plain agreement.
Tone is almost always warm and sincere. It rarely carries irony, unlike some other hand emojis. If you want to react to a post with simple approval instead, the thumbs up emoji is the lighter choice.
How Does the Handshake Emoji Look on Different Platforms?
The emoji appears as a single handshake image on supported platforms, but the exact artwork, angle, and shading differ between Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, WhatsApp, and Twitter.
Support depends on the software version, since this emoji arrived with Emoji 14.0. Based on the platform data for this emoji, it is supported on:
- Apple: iOS 15.4+ and macOS 12.3+
- Google: Android 12L+
- Microsoft: Windows 11 22H2+
- Samsung: One UI 5.0+
- WhatsApp: version 2.22+
- Twitter: Twemoji 14.0+
If a recipient uses an older system, their device may not know how to combine the sequence. They might see the two single hands side by side, possibly with small colored squares or boxes where the skin tone modifiers fall. Updating the operating system or messaging app usually fixes it.
Because each vendor draws its own version, the shade of "dark" and "medium" can look slightly different from phone to phone. The intent stays the same: one hand in each tone, clasped together.
Which Emojis Pair Well With the Handshake: Dark Skin Tone, Medium Skin Tone Emoji?
It pairs best with emojis that express approval, celebration, or business context, since those reinforce its meaning of agreement and partnership.
- 🫱🏿🫲🏽 + 👍: a deal agreed and approved.
- 🫱🏿🫲🏽 + 🎉: celebrating a new partnership or signed contract.
- 🫱🏿🫲🏽 + 🌍: global or cross-cultural collaboration.
- 🫱🏿🫲🏽 + 💼: a professional agreement or introduction.
- 🫱🏿🫲🏽 + ❤️: friendship, community, and goodwill.
For work-themed messages, you might also pair it with a profession emoji such as the woman technologist emoji when announcing a new tech collaboration. Browse more options in the People & Body emoji category, or check what is popular on the trending emojis page.
When Should You Avoid the Handshake Emoji?
Avoid it when the situation is not actually an agreement, or when a deal is still unresolved, because the emoji signals that both sides are already aligned.
Sending it too early in a negotiation can create confusion. If a client has not confirmed terms, a handshake may be read as a commitment. In legal or contractual matters, an emoji is never a substitute for written confirmation, so use words for anything binding.
It is also worth thinking about representation. The two-tone version is usually chosen on purpose, so use it when the skin tones suit the message or the people involved. If the tones do not matter to your point, a simpler emoji may avoid any impression that you are making a statement about identity.
Finally, remember compatibility. If you are messaging someone who may have an older device, the emoji could show up as two separate hands, which can look odd in a formal message. In that case, consider adding a short phrase like "Agreed, thank you" so the meaning is not lost.
How Does It Differ From Similar Emojis?
It differs from the classic handshake mainly by showing two specific skin tones and being built from two separate hands joined together.
The standard handshake (🤝) uses a default yellow tone and is a single, fixed picture. The two-tone sequence lets you pick a tone for each hand, so it can represent two actual people. It is not a skin tone modifier applied to one emoji, which is why this entry lists skin tone support as "No." The tones are already part of the sequence itself.
It also differs from reaction emojis like the eyes emoji, which signals watching or curiosity, or shrugging and facepalming emojis such as woman shrugging and woman facepalming, which express uncertainty or exasperation. The handshake stays positive and cooperative in nearly every context.
How Do You Copy and Paste the Handshake: Dark Skin Tone, Medium Skin Tone Emoji?
You can copy this emoji with one click on this page and paste it anywhere that supports Emoji 14.0.
Click the copy button near the emoji at the top of the page, then paste it into your message, document, social post, or email with the usual paste command (Ctrl+V on Windows, Cmd+V on Mac, or a long press on mobile). The emoji is copied as its full five-part sequence, so it should appear as a single handshake on any updated device.
If you want to turn a full sentence into emojis, try the Emoji Translator tool. Once pasted, double-check how it looks in your app. If you see two hands instead of one handshake, the platform likely needs an update.
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