The Men Holding Hands: Medium-dark Skin Tone, Medium-light Skin Tone emoji (👨🏾🤝👨🏼) shows two men clasping hands, one with a medium-dark skin tone and one with a medium-light skin tone. It stands for romantic partnership between men, close friendship, solidarity, and togetherness, and it lets people represent their own relationship or community accurately.
What Does the Men Holding Hands: Medium-dark Skin Tone, Medium-light Skin Tone Emoji Mean?
This emoji means two men connected by a handshake-style hold, usually read as a male couple, a close friendship, or a show of mutual support.
The image pairs two men, each drawn with a different skin tone: medium-dark on the left and medium-light on the right. Because the two figures can be set to different tones, the emoji reflects the reality that couples and friends often do not share the same complexion.
Its meaning depends heavily on context. Paired with a rainbow or a heart, it reads as a gay or queer couple. Paired with a caption about a teammate or a lifelong buddy, it reads as friendship. Paired with words about unity, it reads as solidarity across differences.
Is it always about romance?
No, it is not always romantic, but many people do use it that way. The emoji was introduced as part of an effort to show more kinds of couples and relationships, so it is widely understood as an LGBTQ+ friendly symbol. Still, the visual of two people holding hands also works for platonic closeness, so tone and surrounding words decide the message.
What Are the Technical Details of This Emoji?
The emoji is a sequence of seven Unicode codepoints that combine into one image on supported devices.
The sequence is U+1F468 (man), U+1F3FE (medium-dark skin tone modifier), U+200D (zero width joiner), U+1F91D (handshake), U+200D (zero width joiner), U+1F468 (man), and U+1F3FC (medium-light skin tone modifier). When a platform supports the sequence, it renders the pair as a single glyph. When it does not, you may see separate pieces, such as two men and a handshake side by side.
- Unicode version: 12.0
- Emoji version: 12.0
- Category: People & Body
- Shortcode: :men_holding_hands_medium_dark_skin_tone_medium_light_skin_tone:
You can browse more of this group on the People & Body emoji category page.
How Do You Use This Emoji in Texting and on Social Media?
Use it to represent two men together, whether as partners, close friends, or allies, and pick it when the specific skin tones match the people you are describing.
In texting, it works as a quick visual for a relationship milestone, an anniversary, or a shared moment. On social media, it often appears in captions for Pride posts, wedding announcements, couple photos, and posts celebrating friendship.
Here are a few realistic examples:
- Three years with this guy and still my favorite person 👨🏾🤝👨🏼
- Happy Pride to everyone who loves out loud 👨🏾🤝👨🏼🏳️🌈
- Day one best friends, now business partners 👨🏾🤝👨🏼
The medium-dark and medium-light combination is useful when the two people really do have those tones. Many users choose the exact pairing because it feels personal, and a generic yellow version can feel less like them.
What Does the Emoji Mean in Romantic and Pride Contexts?
In romantic contexts, it signals a male couple and is often used to share affection or celebrate a relationship publicly.
Gay and queer men use it in dating profiles, anniversary posts, and messages to a partner. It can say "this is us" without a long caption. In Pride Month content, it commonly appears next to rainbow imagery to show visibility and community.
Because the two skin tones differ, the emoji can also speak to interracial and intercultural relationships, giving those couples a symbol that matches their reality instead of forcing a single tone for both people.
Does it work for allies?
Yes. Friends and family can use it to show support for a couple they know, for example in a congratulations message on an engagement. Just make sure the context is clear so the message reads as support and not as assuming someone's relationship status.
How Does the Emoji Work for Friendship and Solidarity?
It works for friendship because holding hands and a handshake are both gestures of trust, loyalty, and support.
Plenty of people use it for two friends celebrating a win, a teammate sending thanks, or a pair of colleagues marking a successful collaboration. The handshake element reinforces ideas of agreement and partnership, which makes it a fit for messages about teamwork.
- Proud of how we showed up for each other this year 👨🏾🤝👨🏼
- Thanks for always having my back, brother 👨🏾🤝👨🏼
If you want to reply to a friend's good news, a simple thumbs up emoji is a lighter option, while this emoji carries more warmth and a sense of shared connection.
How Does the Emoji Look on Different Platforms?
The emoji appears on all major platforms that support Emoji 12.0, though each vendor draws the two men in its own art style.
Support begins with the following versions, based on the platform data for this emoji:
- Apple: iOS 13.2+ and macOS 10.15.1+
- Google: Android 10.0+
- Microsoft: Windows 10 1903+
- Samsung: One UI 2.0+
- WhatsApp: 2.20+
- Twitter: Twemoji 12.1+
If a friend has an older device, they may not see the combined image. Instead they might see separate characters, such as two men and a handshake symbol, which can change the feel of your message. When in doubt, add a few words of text so the meaning survives any rendering difference.
Which Emojis Pair Well With It?
The best pairings are hearts, rainbows, and celebratory symbols that clarify whether you mean romance, pride, or friendship.
- With hearts or a rainbow flag: a clear romantic or Pride message.
- With celebration emojis: anniversaries, engagements, and milestones.
- With a thumbs up: friendly approval between buddies.
If you want to react to a post or story, the eyes emoji can signal curiosity or attention, while this emoji says you are focused on the relationship itself. If you are not sure which emojis fit your message, the Emoji Translator tool can turn a sentence into emojis and give you ideas, and the trending emojis page shows what people are using right now.
When Should You Avoid This Emoji?
Avoid it when it could misstate someone's identity or relationship, or when the setting calls for strictly formal language.
Do not use it to guess or imply that two people are a couple if they have not said so. Publicly tagging two men with a romantic version of this emoji could out someone or make assumptions they are uncomfortable with. Respect how people describe themselves.
In very formal business writing, emojis in general may be out of place. If your workplace chat is casual, a friendship or teamwork use is usually fine, but check the culture of the channel first.
Also think about whether the skin tones fit. Using specific tones for people you are not representing can feel careless, so choose the tones that match the people you mean, or pick a neutral option when representation is not the point.
How Do You Copy and Paste This Emoji?
You can copy it with one click right on this page, then paste it into any message, post, or document.
Click the emoji on this page to copy 👨🏾🤝👨🏼 to your clipboard. Then paste it into your messaging app, social media caption, email, or notes. Because it is a multi-part sequence, always copy the whole emoji instead of typing pieces, so the skin tones and the handshake stay together.
If the pasted emoji looks like separate symbols, your device or app may not support Emoji 12.0 yet. Updating your operating system usually fixes that. For more people-focused symbols, explore the People & Body category and find the right figure for your next message.
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