The Men Holding Hands: Dark Skin Tone, Medium-dark Skin Tone emoji (👨🏿🤝👨🏾) shows two men clasping hands, one with a dark skin tone and one with a medium-dark skin tone. It represents partnership, affection, friendship, and unity, and it is often used to depict male couples or close bonds between men.
What Does the Men Holding Hands: Dark Skin Tone, Medium-dark Skin Tone Emoji Mean?
This emoji means two men connected by a handclasp, shown with two different skin tones to reflect real pairs of people.
At its core, the symbol communicates togetherness. Two men stand side by side and join hands, which can signal romantic love, deep friendship, solidarity, or a shared commitment. Because the picture itself does not state the relationship, the meaning comes from the words and context around it.
The specific pairing here, a dark skin tone on the left and a medium-dark skin tone on the right, exists so that people can represent themselves, their partners, or their friends more accurately. Emoji that show people used to look the same for everyone, and skin tone combinations like this one fix that gap for pairs of people.
Romantic Meaning
Many people use this emoji to represent a male couple. It appears in anniversary posts, engagement announcements, wedding updates, and Pride content where two men share affection openly. The emoji gives gay and bisexual men a way to see their relationships reflected in a keyboard that once offered fewer options.
Platonic Meaning
The emoji is equally valid for friendship. Two best friends, brothers, teammates, or colleagues can use it to show trust and loyalty. Holding hands in this image reads as a gesture of solidarity rather than a purely romantic signal, so context decides which reading applies.
What Are the Technical Details of This Emoji?
This emoji is a sequence of seven Unicode codepoints that renders as a single image on supported devices.
It is classified in the People & Body category and was introduced in Unicode 12.0 and Emoji 12.0. The sequence is U+1F468 (man), U+1F3FF (dark skin tone modifier), U+200D (zero width joiner), U+1F91D (handshake), U+200D (zero width joiner), U+1F468 (man), and U+1F3FE (medium-dark skin tone modifier).
The zero width joiner is an invisible character that tells software to combine the pieces into one picture. On a system that does not recognize the sequence, you may see the individual parts instead: two men with skin tone swatches and a handshake between them. That fallback is a sign the device or app needs an update, not that the emoji is broken.
The shortcode for this emoji is :men_holding_hands_dark_skin_tone_medium_dark_skin_tone:. The emoji does not offer its own skin tone menu, because the skin tones are already built into the character. To get a different combination, you would choose a different emoji in the same family.
How Do You Use the Men Holding Hands Emoji in Texting and on Social Media?
You use this emoji to show love, friendship, or unity between two men, usually alongside a short caption that makes the relationship clear.
In a text, it works as a warm accent that adds feeling to a message without long explanations. On social media, it often anchors a caption about a relationship milestone, a Pride celebration, or a friendship tribute. It also works as a quiet visual signature in a bio for people who want to signal that they are part of a couple or support LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Here are realistic examples of how people use it:
- Three years with my best person 👨🏿🤝👨🏾 Happy anniversary, love.
- Happy Pride to every couple who held hands when it was hard to. 👨🏿🤝👨🏾
- Brothers for life, no matter what. 👨🏿🤝👨🏾
Notice that each example gives readers enough surrounding text to understand the intended relationship. A caption with only the emoji and no words can still work among people who know you well, but a few words prevent misreading.
Why Does Skin Tone Matter in This Emoji?
Skin tone matters because it lets people represent real relationships, including partners or friends with different skin tones, instead of defaulting to a single generic image.
The Unicode Standard uses five skin tone modifiers based on the Fitzpatrick scale, and this emoji combines two of them: dark and medium-dark. For many users, choosing a pairing that matches themselves and their partner turns a generic symbol into something personal and affirming.
Representation carries real weight here. Couples of color, and men of color in same-sex relationships, have historically been underrepresented in media and in emoji sets. A precise skin tone combination is a small but meaningful way to see yourself reflected in the symbols you use every day.
Choosing the Right Combination
Pick the pairing that fits the people you are describing. The order of the two skin tones usually follows the order of the two men in the image, so the dark skin tone man appears first and the medium-dark skin tone man appears second. If you want the tones the other way around, look for the matching combination in the family of men holding hands emoji.
Some people mix tones to represent themselves and a partner, while others choose the same tone twice. Both are fine. The point is to pick whatever feels accurate to you.
How Does the Men Holding Hands Emoji Look on Different Platforms?
The emoji appears on Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, WhatsApp, and Twitter, but each platform draws the two men in its own art style.
Support begins with specific software versions. Apple devices need iOS 13.2 or later or macOS 10.15.1 or later. Google supports it on Android 10.0 and later. Microsoft added it in Windows 10 version 1903. Samsung supports it from One UI 2.0, WhatsApp from version 2.20, and Twitter through Twemoji 12.1 and later.
If you are on older software, the emoji may show as separate pieces or as an empty box. Updating your operating system or app usually fixes this. When you send the emoji to someone, the final look depends on their device, so your recipient may see a slightly different drawing than you do. The meaning stays the same even when the artwork differs.
Which Emojis Pair Well With the Men Holding Hands Emoji?
Hearts, rainbow symbols, and celebration emojis pair best with this emoji because they reinforce affection and pride.
Common combinations include a red or rainbow heart for romance, a rainbow flag for Pride, and sparkles or confetti for celebrations. For friendship posts, a thumbs up can add a supportive, casual tone. When you want to draw attention to a photo or announcement, adding the eyes emoji can invite people to look.
You can browse more options in the People & Body emoji category, which includes many other people, gestures, and relationship emojis. If you are not sure which emojis fit a message, the Emoji Translator can turn plain text into emoji suggestions, and the trending emojis page shows what other people are using right now.
Simple Combinations to Try
- Couple announcement: this emoji plus a heart and sparkles.
- Pride post: this emoji plus a rainbow and a celebratory emoji.
- Friendship tribute: this emoji plus a thumbs up or a smiling face.
What Is the Difference Between This Emoji and Other Holding Hands Emojis?
This emoji shows two men with a fixed skin tone pairing, while related emojis show different genders or different tone combinations.
The same family includes women holding hands and a woman and a man holding hands, each with many skin tone variations. Choosing the right one depends on who you are depicting. If you want to show two men but with different or matching skin tones, you would pick the specific variant that fits.
It also differs from the standalone handshake emoji, which communicates agreement, deals, and greetings rather than closeness. Holding hands implies affection and togetherness, while a handshake implies a formal or business-style connection.
When Should You Avoid the Men Holding Hands Emoji?
Avoid this emoji when its romantic reading could cause confusion, embarrassment, or risk, or when the specific skin tones do not match the people you mean.
In a professional email or a work chat, a handclasp between two men may suggest more intimacy than you intend. If you only want to praise a partnership or teamwork, a handshake or a thumbs up is usually clearer.
Privacy and safety also matter. In some places and communities, openly signaling a same-sex relationship can bring unwanted attention or danger. Consider your audience and your personal circumstances before posting this emoji publicly.
Finally, use the tone combination thoughtfully. Picking skin tones that do not match anyone in your context, just for decoration, can feel careless to people who rely on these emojis for representation.
How Do You Copy and Paste the Men Holding Hands Emoji?
You can copy this emoji with one click on this page and paste it into any app that supports Unicode text.
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, document, or bio using the standard paste command for your device. On a phone, press and hold in a text field and choose Paste. On a computer, press Ctrl+V on Windows or Command+V on Mac.
Because the emoji is a sequence of several characters joined together, always copy the whole thing rather than typing it piece by piece. Copying from this page keeps the sequence intact, so it appears as one image wherever your device supports it. If it shows up as separate parts, update your software or try a different app.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!