The face at the top is Winking face, U+1F609. Only two emoji have wink in their names; the other has its tongue out. Around them are 53 more: near winks, emoji for what a wink means, text winks and combos.
Read the full guide
Two winks, then everything near one
Winking face and Winking face with tongue are the only emoji CLDR files under wink. Search reads Unicode names and CLDR search words, so tease finds the first and joke finds the second. The skin tone control under More options changes the hands; the faces have no tones.
What a wink says
Wikipedia's article on the wink says it usually signals shared hidden knowledge or intent, can mark your own words as a joke, and as encouragement means much the same as a thumbs up. Three groups follow those readings. It also says a wink is ambiguous without context and may be considered rude in some regions.
Tips
Zany face is not a wink. Its formal name is Grinning face with one large and one small eye.
Wikipedia's list of emoticons gives the rule for plain text: a colon for the eyes, unless winking, in which case a semicolon.
None of Unicode's nine cat faces has wink in its name or search words. The missing cat wink, a combo, takes two emoji instead.
Questions and answers
What does the winking emoji mean?
Wiktionary gives Winking face two senses: happiness or friendliness, and a light-hearted sign that writer and reader share hidden knowledge or intent, with Smirking face as a synonym for the second. Winking face with tongue is narrower: Unicode's names list says kidding, not serious.
How do you type a wink in text?
Semicolon, closing bracket. Wiktionary reads ;) as two eyes with one winking and a smiling mouth, and ;-) adds a hyphen for a nose. Kaomoji winks sit upright, like (^_-). Wikipedia records (*) as proposed for a wink in a 1936 Harvard Lampoon article.
Is there a secret emoji?
Eight, by CLDR's search word: the three monkeys, Ninja, Zipper-mouth face, Face without mouth, Face with hand over mouth and the Japanese secret button. A wink signals a shared secret, so all eight are here. Shushing face, filed under shh, is only in the combos.
πWinking faceU+1F609. One of two emoji CLDR files under wink, and the only one under winks, tease and heartbreaker. Wiktionary has it indicating happiness or friendliness, or knowledge the two of you share. Emoji 0.6.
πWinking face with tongueU+1F61C. Formally Face with stuck-out tongue and winking eye. Unicode's names list adds a note: kidding, not serious. CLDR files it under joke and wacky, and it is the only emoji under either. Emoji 0.6.
Nearly a wink 8
πΌCat with wry smileU+1F63C. Of the nine cat faces, none has wink in its name or its search words. This is the nearest, and the only emoji CLDR files under ironic. Emoji 0.6.
ποΈEyeU+1F441 U+FE0F. One eye, wide open: the half of a wink nobody mentions. CLDR's words for it include one and 1. It has a plain text form. Emoji 0.7.
πFace blowing a kissU+1F618. Formally Face throwing a kiss. Wikipedia's list of emoticons sets three emoji beside the ;) row, and this is the third. Emoji 0.6.
π«£Face with peeking eyeU+1FAE3. One eye showing between the fingers. The only emoji CLDR files under peek. Emoji 14.0.
Show all 55 winks and near winks (49 more)
Nearly a wink, continued
πSmiling face with sunglassesU+1F60E. Winking behind these is wasted effort. CLDR lists cool, shades and chilling. Emoji 1.0.
πSmirking faceU+1F60F. Wiktionary lists it as a synonym for the wink in its second sense, shared hidden knowledge. CLDR files it under kidding, alone. Emoji 0.6.
πSquinting face with tongueU+1F61D. Both eyes shut, so strictly a blink. Unicode's names list gives it the same note as the winking one: kidding, not serious. Emoji 0.6.
π€ͺZany faceU+1F92A. Not a wink, whatever it looks like at small sizes: formally Grinning face with one large and one small eye. The only emoji CLDR files under goofy. Emoji 5.0.
When it means just kidding 5
πFace with tongueU+1F61B. The tongue without the wink. Formally Face with stuck-out tongue. CLDR lists awesome, cool and party. Emoji 1.0.
πGrinning squinting faceU+1F606. Eyes shut tight and laughing already. CLDR lists haha, hahaha and lol. Emoji 0.6.
πJokerU+1F0CF. Formally Playing card black joker. CLDR lists wildcard. For a remark that is not to be counted. Emoji 0.6.
π€£Rolling on the floor laughingU+1F923. For when the joke landed. CLDR lists hehe here too, next to hilarious and rofl. Emoji 3.0.
πUpside-down faceU+1F643. A smile turned over, for words that mean the opposite. One of three emoji CLDR files under hehe. Emoji 1.0.
When it means our secret 8
π€Face with hand over mouthU+1F92D. Formally Smiling face with smiling eyes and hand covering mouth. CLDR lists giggle, oops and secret. Emoji 5.0.
πΆFace without mouthU+1F636. Nothing to say it with. CLDR lists mute, secret and speechless. Emoji 1.0.
πHear-no-evil monkeyU+1F649. CLDR lists secret, shh and tmi. It shares shh with Shushing face, which CLDR does not file under secret. Emoji 0.6.
γοΈJapanese βsecretβ buttonU+3299 U+FE0F. Formally Circled ideograph secret, a character since Unicode 1.1. It has a plain text form, which is how it started. Emoji 0.6.
π₯·NinjaU+1F977. CLDR lists hidden, secret, sly and stealth. Five skin tones, not that anyone will see. Emoji 13.0.
πSee-no-evil monkeyU+1F648. CLDR files all three monkeys under secret. This one also gets embarrassed and forgot. Emoji 0.6.
π€Zipper-mouth faceU+1F910. CLDR lists keep, quiet, secret and zip. The reply to a wink, if the secret is safe. Emoji 1.0.
When it means you will be fine 6
πͺFlexed bicepsU+1F4AA. For the wink that says you can do this. CLDR lists strong and flex. Emoji 0.6.
πGlowing starU+1F31F. CLDR lists glittery, shining and win. For a wink that comes with a well done. Emoji 0.6.
πOK handU+1F44C. CLDR lists gotcha, sure and bet. It is what a wink asks for in return. Emoji 0.6.
β¨SparklesU+2728. CLDR lists magic, sparkle and an asterisk. Drawn winks often throw one off. Emoji 0.6.
βStarU+2B50. Formally White medium star. The wink at the end of (^_-)-β throws a plain text one. Emoji 0.6.
πThumbs upU+1F44D. Wikipedia says a wink of encouragement means much the same as a thumbs up. CLDR lists good, like and yes. Emoji 0.6.
Winks in plain text 13
(*)A wink, as a 1936 magazine article proposed it
(^_-)Kaomoji wink: a caret eye and a hyphen eye
(^_-)-βThe same wink, throwing a star
(^_~)A tilde for the eye that is closing
*)An asterisk for the winking eye
*-)Asterisk eye, hyphen nose
;)Semicolon, bracket: one eye winking, a smiling mouth
;-)The same wink, with a hyphen for a nose
;]Wink over a square smile
;^)Wink with a caret for a nose
;3Wink over a 3 for a mouth
;DWink and a wide grin
;PWink with the tongue out
A wink and something else 13
πββοΈπA nod and a winkHead shaking vertically, then winking face. The nodding head is a sequence from Emoji 15.1, so an older device shows a smile and an arrow in its place.
π₯πBa dum tssDrum, then winking face with tongue. The drum that follows a joke, and the face that told it.
πππFinger gunsWinking face, then backhand index pointing right 2 times. A wink and two points. Both hands follow the skin tone.
π€«ππHush, it is a surpriseShushing face, then party popper, then winking face. Everyone knows except one person. Keep it that way.
πΌπThe missing cat winkCat with wry smile, then winking face. No cat face is named for a wink, so this takes two.
ππOnly jokingWinking face with tongue, then face with tears of joy. For the message you would like read as a joke, in case it was not.
ππ€«Our little secretWinking face, then shushing face. The wink in the sense Wikipedia leads with: shared hidden knowledge.
ππSay no moreWinking face, then OK hand. Understood, and not another word needed. The hand follows the skin tone.
ππSee you laterWinking face, then waving hand. A wink on the way out. The hand follows the skin tone.
πΈπWink for the cameraCamera with flash, then winking face. Wikipedia notes that not everyone can wink at will, so practise before the photo.
ππWink winkWinking face 2 times. Two in a row, for a hint that is not meant to be subtle.
πβWink with a starWinking face, then star. What (^_-)-β looks like once it is translated into emoji.
ππYou will be fineWinking face, then thumbs up. The wink of encouragement, with the thumbs up that Wikipedia says it resembles.
How this list was compiled: Built by script on 2026-09-19, not typed by hand. Names, code points, sequences, skin tones and Emoji version numbers come from Unicode's emoji-test.txt, version 18.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/emoji/emoji-test.txt); item names are the CLDR short names in sentence case. Two groups follow stated rules, checked by the script against the whole of the CLDR English annotations (https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr/blob/main/common/annotations/en.xml, main branch): the first is every emoji whose search words include wink, which is two, and they are also the only two emoji with wink in their names; the fourth is every emoji whose search words include secret, which is eight. The words quoted in the notes are CLDR's, and each only-one claim (winks, tease, heartbreaker, joke, wacky, kidding, peek, goofy, ironic, the three under hehe) was checked the same way, as was the fact that none of the nine cat faces has wink in its name or its search words. Formal character names come from UnicodeData.txt, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/UnicodeData.txt); the note kidding, not serious on U+1F61C and U+1F61D is from NamesList.txt, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/NamesList.txt); the age of U+3299 (Unicode 1.1) is from DerivedAge.txt (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/DerivedAge.txt). Text forms come from emoji-variation-sequences.txt (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/emoji/emoji-variation-sequences.txt). The senses of the winking face (happiness or friendliness; hidden knowledge or intent shared with the writer, with Smirking face as a synonym) and the reading of ;) as two eyes with one winking plus a smiling mouth are from Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%9F%98%89, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/;) and https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/;-)). What a wink means (shared hidden knowledge or intent, a joke, encouragement much like a thumbs up, two in a row for a hint), that it depends on context and can be rude in some places, and that not everyone can wink at will are from Wikipedia's article Wink (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wink), which carries a more-citations-needed tag, so the page attributes each of those to Wikipedia. The ASCII winks are rows of Wikipedia's List of emoticons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emoticons), typed in ASCII with the row checked by the script; the two kaomoji winks were read out of its wikitext and their code points checked; ;P and the 1936 proposal of (*) for a wink are from Wikipedia's article Emoticon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon). (^_~) is typed in ASCII and is this site's own addition. The 13 combos and their names are this site's own; nobody has standardised them. All sources were checked on 2026-09-19. Licence: own work (the selection, the combo names and the wording are ours; emoji names, sequences and search words come from Unicode's data files and CLDR, under the Unicode License v3; facts from Wikipedia and Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0, restated in our own words and credited in source)