Used when you’re freezing, shocked, or emotionally “cold.” It can mean literal cold weather or figuratively being frozen by surprise, fear, or awkwardness.
You check your bank account after buying one “small treat” every day for a week.
why is my balance lower than my self-esteem 🥶
🥶 can mean both literally cold (“It’s freezing outside 🥶”) and emotionally frozen — shocked, embarrassed, or reacting to something brutally harsh (“that comment was ice cold 🥶”).
In Japanese chats, 🥶 usually stays literal — describing winter chill or icy temperatures (“寒すぎ🥶”). It’s rarely used for emotional or slang meanings.
If you use 🥶 for emotional shock, make sure the tone is clear — otherwise people might just think you’re complaining about the weather.
See what they share and how they differ to choose the right one.
Both are faces showing strong reactions. 🥶 conveys numbness and stunned chill, a physical or emotional freeze. 😰 reads as hot, panicked anxiety, a pressured and sweating fear. The tone of 😰 is urgent and active, heart racing rather than frozen and far away. The nuance favors immediate dread over stunned detachment. Emotions with 😰 feel restless and on edge, not immobilized. The visual sweat and furrowed brow push it toward stressful alarm instead of the icy blankness of 🥶.
If you mean to say you’re literally freezing, shocked into silence, or emotionally shut off, use 🥶. If you’re trying to convey being scared, stressed, or urgently worried that a situation will get worse, use 😰.
Both share a facial focus and a clear expression. 🥶 conveys intense cold, shock, or emotional freezing, often with a stiff, immobilized feel. 🤧 reads as illness or watery reaction, with a softer, more vulnerable tone and a bodily response implied. The sneezing face suggests ongoing discomfort or a sudden wet release, rather than numb immobilization. It carries nuance between genuine sickness and theatrical weeping, so it feels more bodily and transient than the rigid, stunned mood of the cold face.
Use 🥶 when you are literally cold, stunned, or feeling emotionally frozen and want to convey distance or shock. Use 🤧 when you are ill, suffering allergies, or playfully pretending to cry and want to evoke sympathy, care, or a lighthearted dramatic reaction.
Related emojis that share similar meanings or usage.
