The speak-no-evil monkey emoji 🙊 shows a monkey covering its mouth with both hands. It means "I won't say a word": keeping a secret, reacting to something shocking or embarrassing, or joking that you shouldn't have said something. It is playful rather than serious, and it is the third of the three wise monkeys.
What Does the Speak-no-evil Monkey Emoji Mean?
The speak-no-evil monkey emoji means silence: the speaker is holding back words, either to keep a secret, avoid trouble, or react to something too wild to comment on.
The image comes from the "three wise monkeys" tradition, in which one monkey covers its eyes, one covers its ears, and one covers its mouth. The covered-mouth monkey is known in Japanese as Iwazaru, which roughly translates to "not speaking." The original proverb is usually read as a call to avoid speaking evil, but online the emoji has taken on a much lighter life.
In everyday messaging, 🙊 rarely carries moral weight. People use it when they are embarrassed, when they have just shared juicy gossip, when they want to pretend they said nothing, or when something happened that they refuse to comment on. The cartoon monkey makes all of those moments feel comedic instead of tense.
Technical details
- Codepoint: U+1F64A
- Unicode name: SPEAK-NO-EVIL MONKEY
- Unicode version: 6.0
- Emoji version: 0.6
- Category: Smileys & Emotion
- Shortcode: :speak_no_evil_monkey:
- Skin tone support: No, since it depicts a monkey rather than a person
What Is the Origin of the Speak-no-evil Monkey?
The speak-no-evil monkey comes from a famous Japanese carving of three monkeys, and its mouth-covering pose represents the idea of not speaking evil.
The three wise monkeys are named Mizaru, Kikazaru, and Iwazaru. Mizaru covers its eyes, Kikazaru covers its ears, and Iwazaru covers its mouth. Together they illustrate the maxim "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." The most widely known depiction is a carving associated with a shrine in Nikko, Japan.
Emoji took that three-part idea and split it into three separate characters. The mouth-covering monkey is 🙊, the eye-covering one is 🙈 See-no-evil Monkey, and the ear-covering one is 🙉 Hear-no-evil Monkey. All three belong to the same Unicode block range and have been supported for many years, so they display reliably almost everywhere.
What Does 🙊 Mean in Texting and on Social Media?
In texting and on social media, 🙊 usually means "oops, I shouldn't have said that," "I'm keeping this secret," or "I'm too embarrassed to say more."
The emoji works as a tone softener. Dropping it after a confession, a blunt opinion, or a piece of gossip signals that you know you are saying something a little risky and that you are being playful about it. The monkey effectively says "this slipped out" without needing a longer explanation.
Common meanings
- Secret keeping: a promise not to tell, as in "your secret is safe with me 🙊."
- Embarrassed confession: admitting something silly, awkward, or slightly shameful.
- Playful gossip: hinting at juicy news you are about to share or are refusing to share.
- Speechless reaction: responding to something so shocking or cringeworthy that words fail.
- Teasing restraint: pretending to hold back a sarcastic comment.
How Do You Use the Speak-no-evil Monkey Emoji?
You use 🙊 by placing it at the end of a message that contains a secret, a confession, or a comment you are only half-sorry for saying.
It also works well on its own as a quick reply when a friend shares scandalous news and you want to signal that you will say nothing. Because the face is cartoonish, it lightens the mood even when the subject is a little awkward.
Here are a few realistic examples of how people write with it:
- I may have accidentally told everyone the surprise party date 🙊
- My lips are sealed, but wow that meeting was something 🙊
- Not me replying to my boss's email with the wrong attachment 🙊
Using it to keep a lid on gossip
When someone tells you something sensitive, a single 🙊 reply can act as a friendly vow of confidentiality. It is faster and warmer than typing "I won't tell anyone."
Using it to mask a spicy opinion
If you want to share a hot take without sounding harsh, adding 🙊 signals that you know the comment is cheeky. It keeps the tone teasing rather than hostile.
How Is 🙊 Different From the Other Two Wise Monkeys?
The speak-no-evil monkey covers its mouth and is about silence, while the other two monkeys cover eyes and ears and are about not seeing or not hearing.
In practice, people do not treat the three as a strict set. The see-no-evil monkey is by far the most popular, and it usually means "I can't watch this" or "I'm embarrassed." The hear-no-evil monkey is the least used and usually means "I'm ignoring this" or "la la la, can't hear you."
The mouth-covering monkey sits between them in popularity. Its signature use is the "oops, I said too much" moment. If you want to react with shame at what you just read, 🙈 fits better. If you want to say you are holding back, 🙊 is the right choice.
How Does the Speak-no-evil Monkey Emoji Look on Different Platforms?
The speak-no-evil monkey is recognizable on every major platform, but each vendor draws the monkey's fur color, face shape, and hands slightly differently.
Support is broad and long-standing. According to the platform data for this emoji, it is available on Apple from iOS 6.0 and macOS 10.7, on Google from Android 4.3, on Microsoft from Windows 8.0, on Samsung from One UI 1.0, on Meta's WhatsApp from version 2.17, and on Twitter through Twemoji 1.0.
Because the emoji was added in Unicode 6.0 and Emoji 0.6, virtually any phone or computer in regular use can display it. You are very unlikely to see an empty box or question mark in place of 🙊 on a modern device.
The core design stays consistent across vendors: a monkey with both hands pressed against its mouth. Small differences in expression, such as wide eyes versus squinting ones, can change the feel slightly, from shocked to sheepish. Since the meaning is driven by the hands over the mouth, the message survives the cross-platform changes.
Which Emojis Pair Well With 🙊?
The best pairings for 🙊 are emojis that reinforce embarrassment, laughter, or shock, because they sharpen the playful tone of the monkey.
- 😂 Face With Tears Of Joy: for a confession you find hilarious, as in I said that out loud in the meeting 🙊😂
- 😭 Loudly Crying Face: for dramatic, exaggerated embarrassment.
- 🥹 Face Holding Back Tears: for sheepish, touched, or emotional confessions.
- 🙈: for a double-monkey "I can't look and I won't say anything" reaction.
- 🤫: for a more serious "keep this quiet" reminder.
If you want a gentler, warmer feel, try the monkey next to 😊 Smiling Face With Smiling Eyes. The smile makes it clear that you are being friendly and not secretive in a worrying way.
When Should You Avoid the Speak-no-evil Monkey Emoji?
Avoid 🙊 in situations that call for a serious, direct, or sympathetic tone, since the playful monkey can come across as dismissive.
- Serious conversations: if someone shares genuine bad news, a cartoon monkey covering its mouth can feel flippant.
- Formal workplace messages: it is fine in casual chats with colleagues, but it is out of place in client emails or official announcements.
- Real confidentiality issues: if the subject is truly sensitive, say so in words. Emoji can be ambiguous and invite misreading.
- Discussions about silencing people: in contexts about abuse or censorship, a mouth-covering monkey may look like it is making light of being forced to stay quiet.
When in doubt, consider your audience. Close friends will read 🙊 as a joke. Strangers or senior contacts may not.
How Do You Copy and Paste the Speak-no-evil Monkey Emoji?
You can copy the speak-no-evil monkey emoji 🙊 with one click on this page and paste it into any message, post, bio, or document.
Tap or click the copy button near the emoji at the top of this page, then paste it wherever you need it with the normal paste command (Ctrl+V on Windows, Cmd+V on Mac, or a long press and Paste on your phone). It works in texts, chat apps, social captions, email subject lines, and most text editors.
If you want to build a full message out of emoji, try the Emoji Translator to turn plain text into emoji. To see which characters are popular right now, browse the trending emojis list. Either way, 🙊 is one click away whenever you need it.
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