🤒

Face with Thermometer

feys with thuh-MAH-muh-ter
Smileys & Emotion Unicode 1.0 very common

Meanings

1
Health · Illness Very Common

Represents feeling sick or ill, typically with a fever or elevated temperature. Used to communicate that someone is unwell enough to require rest or medical attention.

Commonly used when calling in sick to work, canceling plans due to illness, or updating others about one's health condition.

Can't make it tonight, woke up feeling awful 🤒 📋 Text message
Day 3 of this flu and still running a fever 🤒 Send soup! 📋 Social media post
The kids are both 🤒 so I'm working from home today 📋 Work chat

In post-pandemic culture, this emoji has taken on additional significance as people became more conscious about communicating illness and contagion risks.

2
Emotional · Distress Common

Used metaphorically to express feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or mentally exhausted to the point of needing recovery time.

Often used in academic or work contexts to express burnout or mental fatigue rather than physical illness.

This exam week has me 🤒 I need a three-day nap after this 📋 Student group chat
Budget reports due tomorrow and the system crashed 🤒 📋 Work message

Reflects growing awareness and openness about mental health challenges, particularly among younger generations.

Combos with 🤒

🤒💊
Taking medication for illness or fever; treating sickness with medicine.
Common in health updates to friends and family, indicating active treatment of illness.
🤒🛌
Sick in bed; bedridden with illness; on bed rest.
Used to communicate severity of illness requiring complete rest.
🤒🍵
Drinking tea or soup while sick; home remedies for illness.
Reflects traditional comfort measures during illness across many cultures.
🤒🏥
Hospitalized or seeking medical care; serious illness requiring professional treatment.
Signals more serious health concerns beyond standard home care.
🤒😷
Contagious illness; sick and taking precautions not to spread germs.
Post-pandemic combination reflecting heightened awareness of preventing disease transmission.

Culture

During the COVID-19 pandemic, this emoji became a socially responsible way to signal potential contagion risk, reflecting new social norms around illness disclosure.

Younger generations use this emoji more freely for both physical and mental health contexts, reflecting changing attitudes about health transparency.

The rise of remote work has made this emoji particularly important in workplace communication tools as a quick signal for absence or reduced availability.

Prior to 2020, illness was often kept private in many cultures, but the pandemic normalized public health status sharing, with this emoji becoming a key signifier.

This emoji often replaces longer explanations about illness symptoms, functioning as a euphemism that communicates sickness without uncomfortable details.

Australia Often accompanied by distinctly Australian slang terms for illness.
United Kingdom Often used with understated British expressions like 'a bit under the weather' or 'feeling rough'.
United States Often paired with specific illness terms like 'flu', 'cold', or 'COVID' to clarify the nature of illness.
Gen_X: More selective usage, primarily for significant illness. Often accompanied by more detailed text explanation in professional contexts.
Gen_Z: Frequently used for both physical and mental health contexts. Often paired with dark humor about illness or academic stress on TikTok and Instagram.
Older: Less frequently used. Older generations tend to prefer explicit text descriptions of health status rather than relying on the emoji alone.
Millennials: Commonly used in workplace communications and family group chats. Frequently used to explain absence from social events or work meetings.

History

2015

Introduced in Unicode 8.0 as part of expanded set of face emojis to represent illness.

Growing need for more nuanced emotion representation in digital communication.

2020

Usage skyrocketed during COVID-19 pandemic as users sought ways to communicate health status.

Global health crisis made illness communication more common and necessary.

2021

Became associated with vaccine side effects as millions posted about their vaccination experiences.

Mass vaccination campaigns led to widespread temporary illness that users wanted to share.

2022

Usage evolved to include mental health contexts as wellness discourse expanded post-pandemic.

Increased awareness of burnout and mental health needs in workplace and educational settings.