The Kiss: Man, Man, Medium-light Skin Tone emoji (👨🏼❤️💋👨🏼) shows two men with medium-light skin tones kissing, with a heart between them. It represents romantic love, affection, and intimacy between two men, and people use it to celebrate male couples, anniversaries, Pride, and personal relationships.
What Does the Kiss: Man, Man, Medium-light Skin Tone Emoji Mean?
This emoji means romantic love and physical affection between two men who both have a medium-light skin tone.
It belongs to the Kiss family of emojis, which depicts couples in a kissing pose with a small heart between them. In this version, both figures are men, and both carry the same medium-light skin tone modifier (the fourth shade on the Fitzpatrick-based scale used by Unicode).
The emoji is used for real relationships rather than for abstract ideas. People send it to a husband, boyfriend, or partner, or use it to talk about a couple they care about. Because it has a specific skin tone built in, it also works as a form of personal representation: couples who see themselves in the image tend to choose it over the default yellow version.
Key facts at a glance
- Category: People & Body
- Unicode version: 13.1
- Emoji version: 13.1
- Shortcode: :kiss_man_man_medium_light_skin_tone:
- Skin tone support: No further modifiers, because the tone is already part of the sequence
How Is This Emoji Built From Unicode Characters?
This emoji is a sequence of ten codepoints joined together, not a single character.
The sequence is U+1F468 (man), U+1F3FC (medium-light skin tone), U+200D (zero width joiner), U+2764 (red heart), U+FE0F (variation selector), U+200D, U+1F48B (kiss mark), U+200D, U+1F468 (man), and U+1F3FC (medium-light skin tone). The zero width joiner tells your device to merge these pieces into one image.
If a device does not recognize the full sequence, it may fall back and show the individual parts side by side: a man, a skin tone swatch, a heart, a kiss mark, and another man with a swatch. That is why this emoji sometimes looks broken on older phones and apps.
The same-tone version you see here is one of several combinations. When two men have different skin tones, Unicode treats it as a separate sequence. If you want a version without any skin tone, use the default Kiss: Man, Man emoji.
How Do You Use the Kiss: Man, Man, Medium-light Skin Tone Emoji?
Use it to express romantic love toward a male partner or to refer to a male couple in a warm, affectionate way.
The most common situations are personal. You might send it to your partner in a goodnight message, add it to an anniversary post, or use it when you share a photo of the two of you. It works as a short way to say "I love you" without writing the words.
It also works for celebrating other people. Congratulating friends on an engagement, a wedding, or a relationship milestone is a natural fit, and the matching skin tone shows that you picked the emoji with care.
Example messages
- Three years today. Still my favorite person. 👨🏼❤️💋👨🏼
- Congrats to Daniel and Marcus on the engagement! 👨🏼❤️💋👨🏼🎉
- Date night with my husband. Nothing beats it. 👨🏼❤️💋👨🏼
What Does This Emoji Mean in Texting and on Social Media?
In texting and social media, it signals romance, affection, and pride in a same-sex male relationship.
In private chats, it reads as sincere and intimate. Between partners it is warm and loving, and between close friends it usually refers to a couple they are cheering on. Because it depicts a kiss, it carries more romantic weight than a plain heart does.
On social media, the emoji often appears in anniversary captions, relationship announcements, and Pride month posts. Many people also add it to profile bios or usernames to signal that they are in a relationship with another man, or simply to show support for LGBTQ+ couples.
The skin tone matters here. Choosing a specific tone is a visible way for people to see themselves represented, and many users on platforms like Instagram and X (Twitter) pick the version that best matches their own appearance.
How Does the Emoji Look on Different Platforms?
The design varies by vendor, but every platform that supports it shows two men kissing with a heart, in matching medium-light skin tones.
Support depends on software version, since the emoji arrived with Unicode 13.1 and Emoji 13.1. Based on the supported platform data:
- Apple: iOS 14.5 and later, macOS 11.3 and later
- Google: Android 12.0 and later
- Microsoft: Windows 11 and later
- Samsung: One UI 4.0 and later
- WhatsApp: version 2.21.16 and later
- Twitter: Twemoji 13.1 and later
If your friend has an older phone or operating system, they may see a string of separate icons instead of one image. When that happens, the message still conveys love, but the effect is lost. Updating the device usually fixes it.
Illustration style, line weight, and facial details differ between vendors, so the same emoji can feel more cartoonish on one platform and more polished on another. The meaning stays the same.
Which Emojis Pair Well With the Kiss: Man, Man, Medium-light Skin Tone Emoji?
Hearts, rings, and celebratory emojis pair best, because they reinforce the romantic message.
- ❤️ or 💕: doubles down on the affection in a love note
- 💍: for engagements and weddings
- 🌈 and 🏳️🌈: for Pride posts and rainbow-themed celebrations
- 🥂 or 🎉: for anniversaries and milestones
- 😍: when reacting to a couple's photo
For reactions to a friend's relationship news, you can pair it with the Eyes emoji for playful curiosity or the Thumbs Up emoji for a simple show of approval. If you are looking for more people-focused options, browse the full People & Body category.
When Should You Avoid This Emoji?
Avoid it in professional or formal settings, and anywhere a romantic message could be unwelcome or unsafe for the people involved.
In work chats, a kissing emoji is almost always too intimate, whatever the orientation of the people it shows. Stick to neutral emojis with colleagues and clients.
Do not use it to tease or mock someone. Sending it to imply that two people are a couple, when they have not said so, can feel intrusive and may out someone who is not ready to share that part of their life.
It is also worth thinking about context and safety. In places where same-sex relationships are stigmatized or unsafe, a public message with this emoji could put you or your partner at risk. In those situations, a private channel or a more discreet emoji is a safer choice.
How Is It Different From the Default Kiss: Man, Man Emoji?
The only difference is the skin tone: this version shows both men with medium-light skin, while the default uses a neutral yellow.
Both carry the same meaning, so neither is more correct. The yellow default is a good choice when you do not want to specify a tone or when you are speaking about couples in general. A toned version is better when the emoji stands in for you, your partner, or a particular couple.
You can also type text into the Emoji Translator to find other romantic and relationship emojis you might want to combine with this one.
How Do You Copy and Paste the Kiss: Man, Man, 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 13.1 emojis.
Click the emoji at the top of this page and it is copied to your clipboard right away. Then paste it into your message, post, bio, or document with Ctrl+V on Windows or Cmd+V on Mac. On a phone, long press in the text field and choose Paste.
Because the emoji is a ten-codepoint sequence, copying the whole thing matters. Select and paste it as a single unit so the joiners stay intact. If it shows up as separate icons, check that your device is updated to a version listed above.
For more ideas, see what is popular right now on the trending emojis page.
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