Plural of Emoji

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The Plural of Emoji

The plural of "emoji" is "emojis."

• Emojis provide the emotional cues that are otherwise missing from text conversations.
• The popular texting app WhatsApp stores the emojis you use most often under the clock icon.

The noun "emoji" adheres to the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English (shown in the table below).

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The Standard Rules for Forming the Plurals

The table below shows the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English.

Type	Example of Type	Forming the Plural	Plural
Most Nouns	lamp scythe	add s	lamps scythes
Noun Ending s, sh, ch, x or z	bus dress	add es	buses dresses
Nouns ending [consonant] o	hero zero tomato	add either s or es (There are no rules for this - you have to know.)	heroes zeros tomatoes
Nouns ending [consonant] i	taxi emoji	add s	taxis emojis
Nouns ending [vowel] o	patio ratio	add s	patios ratios
Nouns ending [consonant] y	story belly	change the y to an i and add es	stories bellies
Nouns ending [vowel] y	valley chimney	add s	valleys chimneys
Nouns ending f or fe	dwarf hoof	ves and/or s (There are no rules - you have to know.)	dwarfs hooves or hoofs
Exceptions	man louse	some nouns undergo a vowel or letters change	men lice
More exceptions	salmon sheep	some nouns do not change at all	salmon sheep

Read more about English spelling rules.

Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of Emoji?

"Emojis" is the best way to make the noun "emoji" plural.

For decades, there has been a debate over whether the plural of "emoji" is "emojis" or just "emoji." That debate is now over. The accepted plural is "emojis."

"Emoji" is a Japanese word, and, as the Japanese language does not recognize plurals, this is the basis for the argument for "emoji" being the plural. However, there are many Japanese words in English (e.g., "tsunami"), and they are pluralized using English rules. In other words, the plural of "tsunami" is "tsunamis."

Some dictionaries still list "emoji" as a recognized plural for "emoji," but updates to these dictionaries are gradually removing "emoji" as an accepted plural.

Of note, Emojipedia (the web's largest emoji reference site) uses the "-s" pluralization.

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