A mantis at rest holds its forelegs folded, and that pose is the praying in praying mantis, by Wikipedia. So the mantis emoji here is Cricket, then Folded hands, the only emoji CLDR files under folded.
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What emoji search gives a praying mantis
Emoji search runs on the CLDR word list. It files bug under three emoji, Bug, Beetle and Cricket, and insect under twelve. Mantis, mantid and praying lead nowhere. Grasshopper finds Cricket alone, and Wikipedia says mantises are sometimes mistaken for grasshoppers.
A triangular head on a flexible neck
Wikipedia gives a mantis a triangular head with bulging eyes, and says some species can turn it nearly 180 degrees. The typed mantises are that head and little else: }ยฐvยฐ{ looks straight at you, and >ยฐvยฐ< opens its forelegs out.
Chinese writes the insect with two characters of its own: the Unihan database defines both ่ณ and ่ as mantis.
Questions and answers
Is there a praying mantis emoji?
Not by that name. Unicodeโs emoji list, version 18.0, has no emoji named mantis. ๐ฆ๐, Cricket then Folded hands, stands in for it.
Is there a mantis emoticon?
Six typed ones are here, and a drawing. }ยฐvยฐ{ is a mantis face-on: two bulging eyes, a pointed chin and a folded foreleg either side. An emoticon is typed on a keyboard, where an emoji would be one character.
What does the word mantis mean?
A prophet, in Ancient Greek, by Wikipedia. So ๐ฎ Crystal ball, the only emoji CLDR files under future, is here for the name, as ๐ is for the praying in front of it.
Which insect emoji is closest to a mantis?
By family, ๐ชณ Cockroach: Wikipedia names cockroaches and termites as the closest relatives of mantises, and termites have no emoji. By outline, ๐ฆ Cricket, which CLDR also files under grasshopper.
All 46 items
Closest emoji 12
๐ชฒBeetleU+1FAB2. One of three emoji filed under bug. The other two are Bug and Cricket. Emoji 13.0.
๐BugU+1F41B. Filed under garden and insect. Emoji 0.6.
๐ชณCockroachU+1FAB3. The nearest relative with an emoji: cockroaches and termites are the closest kin of mantises, by Wikipedia. Filed under roach. Emoji 13.0.
๐ฆCricketU+1F997. The only emoji filed under grasshopper. Mantises are sometimes mistaken for grasshoppers, by Wikipedia. Emoji 5.0.
๐ฎCrystal ballU+1F52E. The only emoji filed under future. Mantis is an Ancient Greek word for a prophet, by Wikipedia. Emoji 0.6.
๐EyesU+1F440. A mantis has two bulbous compound eyes and three small simple ones, by Wikipedia. Emoji 0.6.
๐Folded handsU+1F64F. The only emoji filed under folded. A mantis keeps still with its forelegs folded, which gave it the word praying, by Wikipedia. Emoji 0.6.
๐ฅ Fortune cookieU+1F960. The only emoji filed under prophecy. Emoji 5.0.
๐ฟHerbU+1F33F. Filed under leaf and plant. Most mantises hunt by ambush: they keep still and wait, by Wikipedia. Emoji 0.6.
๐ฅMartial arts uniformU+1F94B. The only emoji filed under martial. Two Chinese martial arts are modeled on the movements of the mantis, by Wikipedia. Emoji 3.0.
๐ฆ๐Praying mantisCricket, then folded hands.
๐ปRed triangle pointed downU+1F53B. The head of a mantis is triangular, by Wikipedia. Emoji 0.6.
Show all 46 items (34 more)
Typed mantises 6
}ยฐ^ยฐ{The same face upside down.
}-v-{Eyes shut, forelegs still folded.
>ยฐvยฐ<With the forelegs opened out.
}ยฐvยฐ{A mantis face-on: two bulging eyes, a pointed chin and a folded foreleg either side. This page's own.
}ยฐvยฐ{ ยทWaiting for a fly.
}ยฐvยฐ{ }ยฐvยฐ{ }ยฐvยฐ{Three in a row.
Mantis drawing 1
Mantis, drawnNine lines: two antennae, a triangular head and a foreleg raised and folded on each side. Needs monospaced text.
Mantis in other languages 9
ฮผฮฌฮฝฯฮนฯMรกntis, Ancient Greek for a prophet or soothsayer: where the name comes from, by Wikipedia and Wiktionary.
ใซใใญใชKamakiri, the Japanese word, by Wiktionary.
่ณ่Tรกnglรกng, the Chinese word.
GottesanbeterinGerman. Wiktionary takes it apart as God and a female worshipper.
louva-a-deusPortuguese. Literally it praises God, by Wiktionary.
mantesA second plural: Wiktionary lists mantes beside mantises.
mantidStrictly a member of one family, the Mantidae, by Wikipedia. Outside it the word is mantis.
Mantis religiosaThe species the name praying mantis mostly means in Europe, by Wikipedia.
MantodeaThe scientific name of the whole order, coined in 1838, by Wikipedia.
Mantis lines 6
a prophet, according to the GreekFor a prediction that came true.
forelegs folded, eyes openFor waiting politely.
found a mantis in the garden, named itFor the new neighbor.
not a grasshopper. not a stick. a mantisFor the correction.
standing very still on purposeFor a photo where nobody blinked.
yes, it can turn its head to look at youFor the one on the window.
Mantis combos 12
๐ฆ๐ค๐ชณClosest relativesCricket, then handshake, then cockroach.
๐ฟ๐๐ฟHiding in the leavesHerb, then eyes, then herb.
๐ฆ๐Looking back at youCricket, then eyes.
๐ฟ๐ฆ๐๐ฟMantis in the gardenHerb, then cricket, then folded hands, then herb.
๐ฆ๐Mantis on a leafCricket, then leaf fluttering in wind.
๐ฆ๐ฅMantis styleCricket, then martial arts uniform.
๐ฆโ๐โ Not a grasshopperCricket, then red question mark, then folded hands, then check mark button.
๐ ๐ฆ๐Pet mantisHouse, then cricket, then green heart.
๐ชฒ๐Praying mantis, with the beetleBeetle, then folded hands.
๐๐Praying mantis, with the bugBug, then folded hands.
๐ฆ๐ฎThe prophetCricket, then crystal ball.
๐ป๐Triangle headRed triangle pointed down, then eyes.
How this list was compiled: Built on 2026-10-09 from sources read that day. The emoji, their names, code points and Emoji version numbers are from the Unicode emoji list, version 18.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/emoji/emoji-test.txt); names are the CLDR short names printed in that file. Search words are from the CLDR English annotations (https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr/blob/main/common/annotations/en.xml and https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr/blob/main/common/annotationsDerived/en.xml). Unicode has no emoji named mantis: no emoji name, no CLDR search word and no character name in UnicodeData.txt, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/UnicodeData.txt), holds mantis, mantises, mantid, Mantodea or praying. CLDR files bug under three emoji (Bug, Beetle, Cricket), insect under twelve, grasshopper under Cricket alone, folded under Folded hands alone, pray under three (Palms up together, Folded hands, Place of worship), roach under Cockroach alone, future under Crystal ball alone, prophecy under Fortune cookie alone and martial under Martial arts uniform alone; termite and prophet lead to no emoji. That mantises are an order of insects named Mantodea in 1838, from an Ancient Greek word for a prophet, that they have triangular heads with bulging eyes on flexible necks, two compound eyes and three simple ones, that some can turn their heads nearly 180 degrees, that the folded forelegs gave the name praying mantis, which in Europe mostly means the species Mantis religiosa, that mantid properly means a member of the family Mantidae, that termites and cockroaches are their closest relatives, that they are sometimes confused with stick insects and grasshoppers, that most are ambush hunters that keep still and wait, that two Chinese martial arts are based on their movements and that they are widely kept as pets are from Wikipedia, Mantis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis, CC BY-SA 4.0). The plural mantes and the Greek word glossed as soothsayer are from Wiktionary, mantis (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mantis, CC BY-SA 4.0); the Chinese, Japanese, German and Portuguese words are from Wiktionary, praying mantis (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/praying_mantis); the parts of the German word from https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gottesanbeterin and the literal sense of the Portuguese one from https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/louva-a-deus. The readings tรกng and lรกng and the definition mantis for ่ณ and ่ are from the Unihan database, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/Unihan.zip). The typed lines, the drawings, the caption lines and the combos are this siteโs own work. Licence: own work: the selection, the combo names, the text drawings and the notes are this site's own. Emoji names, code points and search words are Unicode and CLDR data and Unihan data, used under the Unicode License v3 (https://www.unicode.org/license.txt). Facts from Wikipedia and Wiktionary are restated in this site's own words and credited in the source line.