The Women Holding Hands emoji 👭 shows two women standing side by side with their hands joined. It most often means close friendship, sisterhood, or a romantic relationship between women, and it is widely used for lesbian partnerships and LGBTQ+ pride. The meaning depends on context, tone, and the people sending it.
What Does the Women Holding Hands Emoji Mean?
The Women Holding Hands emoji represents two women connected by touch, which usually signals friendship, solidarity, or love.
Its official Unicode name is TWO WOMEN HOLDING HANDS, and it sits in the People & Body category alongside other emojis that show people and relationships. The image is simple: two figures, hands linked, standing together. That simplicity lets it carry several meanings at once.
The three most common readings are:
- Friendship: two women who are close, supportive, and comfortable with each other.
- Romance: a couple, often a lesbian or sapphic couple, shown as partners.
- Solidarity: women standing together in a cause, a community, or a shared experience.
Because the emoji does not label the relationship, the surrounding words do the work. A caption about a first date points to romance. A caption about a childhood best friend points to friendship.
How Do You Use the Women Holding Hands Emoji?
Use it whenever you want to show two women connected, whether you are celebrating a friendship, announcing a relationship, or supporting a community.
It works best when it replaces or reinforces words about togetherness. You can drop it at the end of a message, place it in a caption, or use it as a reaction to a photo of two women side by side.
Using it for friendship
Pair the emoji with a message that makes the platonic meaning clear, such as a birthday wish, a thank-you, or a throwback photo.
- Happy birthday to my ride-or-die since sixth grade 👭
- Three hours of gossip and one very long hug 👭
Using it for romance
When you want the romantic meaning, add a heart or mention a date, anniversary, or partner. Couples often use the emoji to announce a relationship or mark a milestone.
- One year with my favorite person 👭❤️
What Does 👭 Mean in Texting and on Social Media?
In texting and on social media, 👭 usually signals closeness between women, and it often doubles as a quiet nod to lesbian or sapphic identity.
In group chats and captions, many people use it to tag a best friend, celebrate a duo, or caption a photo of two women together. On dating profiles and in bios, it can signal that someone is a woman who dates women, though not everyone who uses it intends that meaning.
On social platforms, the emoji also appears in pride posts, community hashtags, and messages of support. During Pride Month it is common to see it next to a rainbow flag or heart. The emoji itself has no built-in flag colors, so people often add a 🏳️🌈 to make the pride meaning unmistakable.
Tone matters. A friend commenting 👭 on your photo is likely cheering on the friendship. A partner sending it with a heart is likely saying something romantic.
Is the Women Holding Hands Emoji Only for Lesbian Couples?
No, the emoji is not reserved for lesbian couples, because it also fits friends, sisters, relatives, and anyone celebrating two women together.
That said, it carries real meaning for the lesbian and sapphic community. It is one of the few standard emojis that depicts two women as a pair, so it became a natural way to represent same-sex female relationships. Many people use it with that intent, and many readers will interpret it that way by default.
If you want to avoid ambiguity, add a clarifying word or emoji. If you want the romantic reading, add a heart. If you want the platonic reading, mention friendship, sisterhood, or a shared memory.
How Does the Women Holding Hands Emoji Look on Different Platforms?
The emoji looks similar in concept on every major platform, but each vendor draws the two women with its own style, clothing, and hairstyles.
It was added to Unicode 8.0 and approved as part of Emoji 1.0, with the codepoint U+1F46D, and it is now supported across the major systems. Based on the provided platform data, support starts at these versions:
- Apple: iOS 9.1+ and macOS 10.11.1+
- Google: Android 6.0.1+
- Microsoft: Windows 10+
- Samsung: One UI 1.0+
- WhatsApp (Meta): 2.17+
- Twitter: Twemoji 2.0+
Because designs vary, the same message can look slightly different to the sender and the receiver. Details like outfit color or hair length may change, but the core image of two women holding hands stays consistent.
Skin tone options
This emoji supports skin tone modifiers, so you can choose tones that reflect you and your partner or friend. On many platforms you can long-press or tap and hold the emoji to open the tone picker. The two figures can often be set to different tones, which makes the emoji more inclusive of real relationships.
Which Emojis Pair Well With 👭?
The best pairings add a heart for romance, a flag for pride, or a sparkle for celebration, depending on the message you want to send.
- 👭❤️ for a romantic partnership or deep affection.
- 👭🏳️🌈 for pride, community, and lesbian visibility.
- 👭✨ for a joyful celebration of friendship.
- 👭🌸 for a soft, sweet tone, good for anniversaries or sisterhood.
You can also browse related emojis for other kinds of pairs. The Men Holding Hands emoji shows two men, the Woman and Man Holding Hands emoji shows a mixed pair, and the People Holding Hands emoji offers a more gender-neutral option. For romantic moments, the Kiss emoji and its variants such as Kiss: Woman, Man and Kiss: Man, Man cover other couple combinations.
When Should You Avoid the Women Holding Hands Emoji?
Avoid it when the romantic or pride meaning could be misread, mocked, or unwelcome in the setting where you are sending it.
In professional messages, the emoji is generally fine for celebrating a team of women or a mentoring relationship, but a romantic reading could cause confusion if your intent is only professional. If you are unsure, add a clear caption.
Be thoughtful about outing. If someone has not shared their relationship publicly, tagging or captioning them with this emoji in a public post could reveal something they wanted to keep private. Ask first, or keep the message in a private chat.
Also consider that the emoji can be read as teasing if used with a sarcastic tone about two people who are not a couple. Keep the tone kind and the context clear.
How Do You Copy and Paste the Women Holding Hands Emoji?
You can copy the emoji with one click right on this page and paste it into any message, post, or document.
Click the emoji 👭 at the top of this page to copy it instantly, then paste it wherever you want it using your device's paste command. It works in text messages, social posts, emails, bios, and notes. If you want to turn a full sentence into emojis, try the Emoji Translator, and to see what people are using right now, check the trending emojis page. You can also explore more in the People & Body category.
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