The Handshake: Medium Skin Tone, Medium-light Skin Tone emoji (🫱🏽🫲🏼) shows two hands clasping, one in a medium skin tone and one in a medium-light skin tone. It means agreement, partnership, a greeting, or a deal sealed between two people, and the mixed skin tones add a message of diversity and mutual respect.
What Does the Handshake: Medium Skin Tone, Medium-light Skin Tone Emoji Mean?
This emoji means two people are agreeing, cooperating, or greeting each other, with each hand shown in a different skin tone.
At its core it carries the same meaning as the classic handshake: a deal is done, a partnership has begun, or a meeting has started on good terms. The difference is representation. Instead of a single-tone handshake, this version pairs a medium skin tone hand with a medium-light skin tone hand, so the people sending it can reflect themselves and the person they are shaking hands with.
The emoji sits in the People & Body category, which is where you will find most hand gestures, body parts, and people. If you like browsing related gestures, the People & Body emoji category lists them all in one place.
What do the two hands represent?
The hand on the left side of the image is the right hand reaching in from the left, and the hand on the right is the left hand. Each carries its own skin tone modifier, which is why the pair can differ. Here the left hand is medium and the right hand is medium-light.
Why Does This Handshake Use Two Different Skin Tones?
Two skin tones let people show a handshake between individuals who do not share the same skin tone, which the single-tone version could not do.
Before Unicode 14.0, handshake emojis could only appear in one tone at a time, so a mixed pair was impossible to send. The Unicode Consortium added the ability to set each hand independently, and this emoji is one of many combinations that resulted. That is why it appears alongside every other pairing of the five skin tone modifiers.
This makes the emoji especially meaningful in messages about cross-cultural friendship, international business, community partnerships, and any moment where two different people come together. It says the agreement is between equals who bring different backgrounds to the table.
How Do You Use the Handshake: Medium Skin Tone, Medium-light Skin Tone Emoji?
Use it whenever you want to signal agreement, a new partnership, a warm greeting, or a thank-you for cooperation.
It works well at the end of a message that settles something, or at the start of one that welcomes someone. Because it is a sincere gesture, it reads as respectful rather than playful, which makes it easy to use in professional and personal settings alike.
- Contract signed! Excited to start working together 🫱🏽🫲🏼
- Welcome to the team, Priya. Glad to have you on board 🫱🏽🫲🏼
- Thanks for hearing me out. Deal? 🫱🏽🫲🏼
Can it replace a written confirmation?
It can acknowledge an agreement in a casual chat, but it should not replace a clear written confirmation when details matter. Pair the emoji with the actual terms so there is no ambiguity about what was agreed.
What Does 🫱🏽🫲🏼 Mean in Texting and on Social Media?
In texting and on social media, it signals agreement, goodwill, or a friendly greeting, and it often highlights unity between people of different backgrounds.
In a direct message, it usually means "we have a deal" or "I agree." In a public post, it tends to celebrate collaboration, such as two creators teaming up, two businesses announcing a partnership, or a community coming together. Posts about diversity, inclusion, and multicultural friendship also use this specific pairing to make the message visual.
You may also see it used after a disagreement is settled, as a sign that two people are on good terms again. A short "we're good 🫱🏽🫲🏼" can close an awkward conversation gracefully.
- Agreement: Sounds fair to me 🫱🏽🫲🏼
- Collaboration announcement: Big news, we're teaming up this summer 🫱🏽🫲🏼
- Making peace: All sorted between us 🫱🏽🫲🏼
How Does the Handshake Emoji Look on Different Platforms?
The emoji looks similar across platforms, but each vendor draws the hands, cuffs, and shading in its own style.
This emoji was introduced in Unicode 14.0 and Emoji 14.0, so it only appears on newer software. According to the platform data for this page, support starts at these versions:
- Apple: iOS 15.4 and later, macOS 12.3 and later
- Google: Android 12L and later
- Microsoft: Windows 11 22H2 and later
- Samsung: One UI 5.0 and later
- WhatsApp (Meta): version 2.22 and later
- Twitter/X: Twemoji 14.0 and later
If your device is older than these versions, you may see two separate hand emojis, or a placeholder box, instead of one joined handshake. That is not a mistake in the message. It simply means the sender's device supports the emoji and yours does not yet.
Why might it look like two separate hands?
The emoji is a sequence of several characters joined together. The sequence uses the codepoints U+1FAF1 (rightwards hand), U+1F3FD (medium skin tone), U+200D (zero width joiner), U+1FAF2 (leftwards hand), and U+1F3FC (medium-light skin tone). Systems that do not recognize the full sequence show the pieces separately instead of combining them.
Which Emojis Pair Well With 🫱🏽🫲🏼?
Emojis that express approval, attention, or celebration pair best with the handshake, since they reinforce the sense of a successful agreement.
A thumbs up after a handshake adds a clear "approved" signal. The eyes emoji works when you are watching a deal unfold or inviting someone to look at news about a partnership. For messages about work and projects, a woman technologist emoji can anchor a post about a tech collaboration.
- 🫱🏽🫲🏼🎉 for a celebrated partnership
- 🫱🏽🫲🏼💼 for business agreements
- 🫱🏽🫲🏼🌍 for international or multicultural cooperation
- 🫱🏽🫲🏼🤝 when you want to emphasize the gesture itself
Keep combinations short. One or two companion emojis is usually enough to add meaning without hiding your message.
How Is It Different From Other Handshake and Gesture Emojis?
The main difference is the skin tone mix: this version shows two distinct tones, while other handshakes show one tone or the default yellow.
The standard handshake emoji can appear in a single skin tone or in the default style, and it conveys the same meaning. Choosing a mixed tone is a deliberate decision that communicates something about the people involved. If you are posting about yourself and a colleague, or two characters in a story, matching the tones to the actual people makes the emoji feel more personal.
It also differs from gestures that suggest uncertainty or frustration. A woman shrugging says "I don't know" and a woman facepalming shows exasperation. The handshake is the opposite of both: it is decisive and positive.
When Should You Avoid the Handshake Emoji?
Avoid it when the situation is not actually settled, or when a friendly gesture could feel dismissive or sarcastic.
Because it signals a finished agreement, sending it too early can create false expectations. If terms are still being negotiated, hold off until you are sure. In sensitive conversations, such as conflict, apologies, or serious feedback, a handshake can come across as minimizing the problem, so write out what you mean instead.
Also think about the skin tone choice. Some people prefer to match tones to the people involved, and others prefer to use a neutral option. There is no rule, but if you are making a post about specific individuals, using tones that do not match them may feel unintentional or confusing.
- Do not use it to confirm a deal that still has open questions.
- Do not use it as a replacement for an apology.
- Do not use it sarcastically in a heated exchange, as it may be read as mocking.
How Do You Copy and Paste the Handshake: Medium Skin Tone, Medium-light Skin Tone Emoji?
You can copy this emoji with one click on this page and paste it into any app that supports Unicode 14.0 emoji.
Click the emoji button near the top of the page to copy 🫱🏽🫲🏼 to your clipboard, then paste it into your message, email, document, or social media post. On a phone, long-press the text field and choose Paste. On a computer, use Ctrl+V on Windows or Cmd+V on Mac.
If you want to turn a full sentence into emojis, try the Emoji Translator. To see what other people are sending right now, check the trending emojis page for popular picks you can copy the same way.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!