Shrug kaomoji
Hand gestures
Careless and funny kaomoji
Blank stare faces
The shrug emoji is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, a kaomoji built from ordinary punctuation plus the Japanese letter ツ. Tap any item above to copy it. Because it is plain text and not a picture, it pastes into places that reject real emoji — including many game name fields and your display name on TikTok.
Last updated: 6 August 2026 · COOLMOJI Editorial Team
What the shrug emoji actually is
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ is not one character. It is seven characters typed in a row, which is why it behaves like text rather than like 🤷. Knowing the pieces is the fastest way to repair it when an app mangles it.
| Part | Code point | Role |
|---|---|---|
| ¯ | U+00AF MACRON | The two raised arms |
| \ and / | U+005C, U+002F | The sloping shoulders |
| _ | U+005F LOW LINE | The body |
| ツ | U+30C4 KATAKANA LETTER TU | The face — a Japanese letter, not an emoji |
Why your shrug loses an arm
If you paste ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and it arrives as ¯_(ツ)_/¯ — one arm shorter — the app treated the backslash as an escape character and swallowed it. This is the single most common complaint about this kaomoji, and it is not a font problem: nothing is broken, one character was eaten in transit.
The fix depends on where you are typing. In apps that use markdown-style formatting, type a second backslash so one survives; everywhere else, copying the finished text from a grid like the one above avoids the problem entirely, because you never type the backslash yourself.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ or 🤷 — which one to use
Use the text shrug when the field is plain text or when you want the shrug to match the surrounding letters; use the emoji when you want colour and a human figure. They are different things that happen to mean the same thing.
- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ is text. It inherits the font and colour of the sentence around it, and it works in fields that strip emoji.
- 🤷 (U+1F937 PERSON SHRUGGING) is a picture drawn by your device. It also comes in gendered forms, 🤷♂️ and 🤷♀️, which are longer sequences behind the scenes — worth knowing when a field counts characters.
One practical consequence: a bio with a character limit charges you far less for the text shrug in some apps and far more in others, because emoji frequently count as two characters where a letter counts as one.
Where the shrug works and where it does not
The text shrug survives almost anywhere, but a few fields still refuse it — usually the ones that only accept letters, numbers and a couple of symbols.
- Works: messages, captions, comments, documents, most display names, most bios.
- Usually refused: account handles. On TikTok a username accepts only letters, numbers, full stops and underscores, so the shrug is rejected there — but it works in your display name.
- Depends: game name fields, which often allow a short whitelist of characters only.
If a field rejects the whole thing, the usual culprit is the ツ rather than the punctuation, since that is the only non-Latin piece.
Other reaction faces worth keeping
The shrug covers indifference; for the neighbouring mood of doubt, the thinking faces are the closer match. The grid above also carries confused faces, hand gestures and question marks, which cover the neighbouring moods — mild disbelief, genuine confusion, and the pause before an answer. All of them are plain text and behave the same way as the shrug.
For the full library of reaction sets, browse COOLMOJI, and if you want to know how these sets are checked before publication, our editorial process explains it.
Frequently asked questions
How do I type the shrug emoji on a keyboard?
You do not need to type it. Copying it is faster and avoids the backslash problem, which is why the grid above sits at the top of this page. If you do want to type it, the sequence is macron, backslash, underscore, open bracket, ツ, close bracket, underscore, slash, macron.
Why does my shrug show a box instead of a face?
The box means your device has no drawing for ツ in the font it is using — the character is still intact and still on your clipboard. Paste it into another app and it will usually appear correctly.
Can I use ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ in my username?
In a display name, usually yes. In an account handle, usually no: handles are normally restricted to letters, numbers and a small set of punctuation.
What does the shrug emoji mean?
It signals “I do not know” or “not my problem”, delivered lightly. It softens a statement, which is why it so often follows an opinion rather than a fact.
