English is a language with endless examples of odd phrases.
If you know how to turn the other cheek or told someone something happened in a hot minute, that shouldn’t come as a surprise.
When it comes to discussions that take place online or via text message, however, even native speakers of English can quickly get confused.
Expressions of love, whether in a graphical form or written out as [<3], are especially complicated.
What is the meaning of the blue heart emoji (💙)?
The meaning of the blue heart emoji is primarily affection, with some using it for autism awareness, bromance, or a fondness for the color blue. Its interpretation can depend on the context and personal intent of the sender. In online chats and social media, it often complements supportive or friendly messages.
The meaning of heart emojis in general
Before it’s possible to discuss how the blue heart emoji is used, it’s important to understand how people use any heart emoji.
The most obvious meaning of the heart emoji is to express love for something or someone. While this is by far the most common way heart emojis are used online, it isn’t the only way.
Other uses of the heart emoji include:
- idle flirting
- laughter
- hope
- inspiration
- appreciation
With such a wide range of possible meanings, it’s best not to assume that someone using a heart emoji in a text or online message has romantic feelings for you. Otherwise, you run the risk of ending up in an awkward situation.
Pause for a moment to let that sink in, and then we’ll move on.
The many colors of the heart emoji
One of the most interesting things about language is that its use varies based on the time, place and context of a conversation.
The phrase “thank you for your interest” is a great example.
The same is true for using emoji. As we’ve seen, it’s possible for a heart emoji to represent sincere affection, romantic or sexual interest, excitement or several other things.
Things get even more confusing when you take into account the many different colors and modifications of the traditional red heart.
What does a yellow heart mean? A green one? If someone sends you a black heart, are they happy, upset or depressed?
The blue heart is one of the heart emoji with the greatest potential for misunderstanding.
Some common explanations for a blue heart
Blue is often used as a synonym for depressed or disappointed. Given that, and the emotion usually carried by a heart emoji of any color, you might expect a blue heart to mean something like heartbreak. Like many things online, however, the obvious answer is wrong.
So, what exactly does a blue heart signify? There are many different answers to the question, and even though many websites that list these meanings say they are the only one, it’s clear that nobody really agrees what a blue heart means.
Here are just a few of the meanings we found on our search for the elusive, and ultimately illusory, basic definition of the blue heart emoji.
- A fan of Duke University.
- Bromance or other “bro feelings.”
- Used to support autism awareness.
- That the sender is relegating you to the “friendzone” or saying they don’t want to have a romantic relationship with you.
- Just being used because the person likes the color blue.
- Used to symbolize trust and loyalty.
- Used to show that the sender enjoys BDSM and other sexual kinks (primarily on Instagram).
As you can see, the blue heart emoji runs the gamut from expressing romantic feelings to expressing decidedly nonromantic feelings. If you get it in a text or online message, don’t despair!
Everyone seems to use it differently, and there are some things you most definitely do not want to assume about someone just because they sent you a blue heart emoji.
Example Sentences
In this text, the meaning of the heart is obvious from context.
Here, there may be many possible interpretations. This could be anything from someone who is excited about a football game to a fundraiser for autism, or the blue heart emoji could simply reflect this person’s favorite color.
The use of the word “bro” suggests strongly that this is a casual, between-male-friends kind of heart.
In this case, trust and loyalty seem like reasonable assumptions. On the other hand, if this was a red heart or a black one instead of a blue one, that meaning wouldn’t change.
Just Ask about the meaning of the blue heart emoji
As with everything online, context is king. If you read the sentence that comes before a blue heart emoji, its meaning usually becomes obvious.
If someone sends you a blue heart emoji by itself or you can’t figure out the meaning from context, there’s no harm in asking.
Your conversation partner might be frustrated that you don’t understand their intent, but it’s always better to ask for clarity when you need it than it is to make a bad assumption.
Hey fellow Linguaholics! It’s me, Marcel. I am the proud owner of linguaholic.com. Languages have always been my passion and I have studied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics and Sinology at the University of Zurich. It is my utmost pleasure to share with all of you guys what I know about languages and linguistics in general.