🤢

Nauseated Face

NAW-zee-ay-ted FAYS
Smileys & Emotion Unicode 3.0 very common

Meanings

1
Emotional · Disgust Very Common

Expresses feeling physically sick or nauseated, often with the implication of being about to vomit due to illness, disgust, or revulsion.

Commonly used to indicate disgust at something gross or revolting rather than actual illness.

Just saw someone put ketchup on their ice cream 🤢 📋 Social media reaction
Morning sickness hitting hard today 🤢 Can't keep anything down. 📋 Personal message
That roller coaster made me feel 🤢 but it was worth it! 📋 Instagram caption

Often used humorously to express extreme dislike rather than literal nausea, especially among younger users.

2
Emotional · Rejection Common

Indicates strong moral or emotional disgust at an idea, situation, or person's behavior, without necessarily implying physical nausea.

Often used in response to offensive comments, unethical behavior, or distasteful suggestions.

He asked me out right after breaking up with my friend 🤢 📋 Text message
Did you see that politician's comments about immigrants? 🤢 📋 Twitter/X comment

Functions as a stronger version of the eye-roll emoji, showing moral objection rather than mere annoyance.

Combos with 🤢

🤢🤮
Progression from feeling nauseated to actually vomiting, or extreme disgust.
Common sequence showing escalating illness or disgust, especially in reaction to something revolting.
🤢😷
Feeling sick and trying not to spread illness, or disgust at something unhygienic.
Gained popularity during pandemic to indicate feeling ill while being responsible.
🤢💊
Taking medicine for nausea or feeling sick and needing medication.
Used when discussing illness recovery or hangover remedies.
🤢🍽️
Bad food, food poisoning, or disgust at someone's food choices.
Popular in food review contexts or when criticizing unusual food combinations.
🤢💔
Heartbreak making one physically ill, or disgust at relationship behavior.
Used in breakup stories or when reacting to toxic relationship scenarios.

Culture

Functions as a visual taboo breaker, allowing users to reference bodily functions (vomiting) that would be impolite to describe explicitly in many contexts.

Younger users employ this emoji more hyperbolically for mild dislikes, while older users tend to reserve it for actual illness discussions.

The green color is universally understood as representing nausea across platforms, despite slight design variations in the facial expression.

Often replaces phrases like 'that makes me sick' or 'I feel ill' in digital communication, functioning as emotional punctuation.

Part of the evolution of more nuanced negative emotions in emoji, moving beyond the basic sad face to specific physical and emotional states.

Australia Frequently paired with Australian slang terms like 'spew' or 'chuck' and used in casual conversation about feeling unwell.
United Kingdom Often paired with British slang like 'rank' or 'minging' to express disgust. Used more literally in health contexts.
United States Often paired with slang terms like 'gross' or 'ew' and frequently used in meme culture to express exaggerated disgust.
Gen_X: More likely to use literally about actual illness or motion sickness. Less frequent usage overall, but practical in health discussions.
Gen_Z: Used hyperbolically for mild dislikes and dramatically in reaction videos. Common on TikTok to express performative disgust at trends or behaviors.
Older: Limited usage, primarily in health contexts or when discussing actual nausea. Often paired with text explanation rather than standalone.
Millennials: Used both literally for illness and figuratively for moral disgust. Common in work chats about food poisoning or in political discussions.

History

2016

Added to Unicode 9.0 as part of a set of new face emojis showing illness or discomfort.

Growing demand for more expressive face emojis showing negative physical states.

2018

Shifted from primarily literal illness usage to broader disgust reactions in online discourse.

Meme culture adoption as a reaction to disturbing or controversial content.

2020

Saw increased usage during COVID-19 pandemic to discuss symptoms and illness anxieties.

Global health crisis making nausea discussions more common in everyday conversation.

2022

Became common in political discourse to express moral disgust at controversial policies or statements.

Increasing polarization in online political discussions seeking stronger emotional expressions.