Shows big, open-mouthed surprise—like “WOW!” It’s the go-to emoji for total shock, disbelief, or something way beyond what you expected.
Your coworker says they just won $10,000 in a raffle.
No way, that’s insane 😲
😲
- Groups
- Subgroups
- Unicode
- U+1F632
- Variant status
- Fully-qualified
- Emoji version
- E0.6
astonished face
Definitions & examples
Sometimes used playfully to react to gossip or dramatic news, like “You did WHAT?!” energy.
In Japanese chats, 😲 overlaps with “びっくり！” (surprise), often used for comic exaggeration rather than true shock—think anime-style reactions.
Too many 😲 in a row can make your message sound sarcastic; one is enough to show you’re genuinely surprised.
Compare picks
See what they share and how they differ to choose the right one.
Differences between 😲 (astonished face) and 🤯 (exploding head)
More on exploding head
😲 astonished face and 🤯 exploding head both convey intense surprise and are used to react to unexpected information, but they differ in nuance and typical contexts: 😲 astonished face reads as sheer, wide-eyed shock or disbelief at something startling or hard to digest, often implying that the event was beyond normal expectations and caught you off-guard, while 🤯 exploding head carries a stronger sense of being mentally overwhelmed or mind-blown—it suits moments of extreme amazement, incredulity at complexity, or feeling your brain can’t process what you just learned; use 🤯 when the reaction is not just surprised but also astonished in a way that suggests awe, confusion, or being figuratively blown away, and use 😲 for blunt, immediate surprise without the added layer of being mentally stunned.
Usage
You might use 😲 astonished face for a sudden, unexpected announcement that leaves you speechless; please choose it for straightforward shock. Use 🤯 exploding head for something astonishingly clever, confusing, or overwhelmingly impressive; please choose it when you want to convey being mind-blown.
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