There are many ways to use emojis…and many ways to not use emojis. In addition to showing your age with the millennial laughing-crying face, one of the most common emoji flubs someone (or someone’s boomer relative) can make is dropping a seemingly innocuous emoji into the group chat unaware that it is actually a sex emoji. That’s because—as anyone with a baseline level of emoji literacy knows—emojis often come to mean something different (sometimes very different) from what they literally represent. And a lot of the time, that hidden meaning is horny.
The eggplant and the peach were, of course, among the first wave of seemingly innocent emojis to take on a suggestive meaning way back when millennials ruled the cultural discourse. Since then, the horny emoji canon has only grown, with various emojis new and old working their way into sexier contexts.
Of course, like any language, emoji usage evolves—and that includes emoji sex slang. Some emojis that were once earnestly sexy are now only ironically so, some have become passé altogether, while others that may have initially seemed inherently horny never really caught on. Meanwhile, there may be existing emojis that possess hidden innuendo we’ve yet to tap into as a society. What I’m saying is, some emojis are born horny, some achieve horniness, and some have horniness thrust upon them.
The point is, it’s important to stay up to date on which emojis are the sex emojis and in which contexts, both for your own good and the good of the group chat. So whether you’re looking for the perfect subtly sexy emoji to sext your crush or trying to avoid accidentally Slacking a horny emoji to your coworker, here is your guide to the 29 sexiest emojis, what they mean, and how and when to use them.
Classic Sex Emojis
These are the OGs, the core group of sex emojis that are definitively horny and often (although not necessarily always or exclusively) used in a sexual context.
1. Eggplant: 🍆
The eggplant is the sex emoji that started it all. The unofficially official but universally agreed-upon penis emoji, the eggplant is mostly ironic but still very explicitly sexual.
2. Peach: 🍑
A close cousin of the eggplant, the peach is one of the original horny emojis and is used to symbolize an ass. By extension, it can also convey anal sex.
3. Sweat or Spray: 💦
This emoji is used to convey bodily fluids of a sexual nature. Which fluids exactly? That’s between you and god.
4. Smirk Face: 😏
The smirk face, while obviously horny, has to be used sparingly and with caution to work. It’s like the emoji equivalent of a wink (but not the actual wink emoji, which is more wholesome).
5. Smiling Devil: 😈
This emoji is pretty much the classic “impure thoughts” emoji. For my “Cruel Summer” truther Swifties, it also recalls “he looks up grinning like a devil,” which, IYKYK.
6. Hot Face: 🥵
This emoji is essentially the physical embodiment of literal horniness, used to convey that something or someone is so hot, they’ve got you feeling some type of way.
Less Common Sex Emojis
These emojis may be used less often and are somewhat more context-dependent than the ones above. They may not be explicitly or exclusively sexual, but they can convey horniness in certain contexts.
7. Woozy Face: 🥴
“Mouth with uneven eyes” was released in early 2018 and quickly became the unofficial “orgasm face” emoji. It’s often used more ironically than earnestly, because, well, it’s goofy as all hell.
8. Exploding Head: 🤯
This emoji is sometimes used to express surprise, confusion, or even stress, but it can also convey “mind-blowingly” good sex.
9. Melting Face: 🫠
While the melting face is often used to convey exhaustion, embarrassment, or existential dread, it can also suggest a state of weak-in-the-knees horniness; e.g., “You’re so hot I’m melting,” or, “I’m so horny for you right now my brain is literally turning to mush.”
10. Swirly-Eyed Hypnotized Face: 😵💫
Another emoji that usually conveys confusion or distress but can also be used to illustrate a mind-melting horniness haze. Best used in combination with the eggplant emoji to illustrate a state of straight-up dicknotism .
11. Unicorn: 🦄
A unicorn is a (sometimes controversial) term for someone who likes having threesomes with couples , so if you see a unicorn emoji in someone’s dating app bio, chances are that’s what they’re trying to signal. The more you know!
12. Blushy Smile: 😊
There remains shockingly little consensus among emoji users as to which is the appropriate orgasm emoji. Yes, there’s the Woozy one (🥴), but as we’ve previously established, that one’s better for ironic-horny purposes than actual sexting, meaning there’s still no easy but not-cringe way to politely let a sexting partner know you just came and it’s time to wrap things up. So allow me to suggest this blushy smile emoji. It’s grinning ear-to-ear, all flushed and basking in a post-coital glow—it’s a classy, subtle yet effective way to say, “Yes, I came.”
Dirty Sex Emojis
These are your most literal and arguably most immature sex emojis. Think: suggestive middle school hand gestures. These are mostly used ironically and/or annoyingly.
13. This Immature Hand Motion: 👉👌
Remember what I just said about suggestive middle school hand gestures? Exactly.
14. Cat: 🐱
Not to be confused with any of the cat emoticons (😺😹😻), which are just cats. This cat is…well, you don’t need me to explain this one, right?
15. Pinched Fingers: 🤌
From what I understand, this was supposed to be the pinched fingers emoji, like the gesture your Italian grandma would make when she’s telling you not to disgrace her famous pasta sauce by using canned tomatoes. Unfortunately for your Italian grandma, however, this emoji has found alternative meaning as the fisting emoji. You’ve been warned.
16. Fingering: 🫴
Anyone with proper fingering technique knows that this is a much better fingering emoji than 👉.
17. Lip Biting 🫦
I suppose there’s not really anything dirty about this emoji per se, but it’s another body-part emoji that feels a little too literal/overtly horny to actually be horny.
Funny Sex Emojis
These emojis are not inherently sexy and are more for those looking to get a little silly with it. Lot’s of potential for irreverent puns, wordplay, etc. below.
18. Flag Up Mailbox: 📫
Back in 2018, our friends over at Esquire blessed us with an in-depth argument as to why this eager little mailbox is actually deeply horny, and honestly, I’m still convinced. Flag Up Mailbox has everything: veiled phallic imagery, the novelty of the unexpected, and, of course, the admittedly somewhat juvenile satisfaction of corrupting an otherwise totally run-of-the-mill image.
19. Screw: 🔩
A classic alternative to the words “fuck” and “bang,” the “screw” emoji speaks for itself.
20. Bone: 🦴
Same deal as above: to bone is to screw is to bang is to fuck, etc.
21. Bursting Champagne Bottle: 🍾
It’s an orgasm. Get it? You get it.
22. Electric Plug: 🔌
What do you do with a plug? You put it in a wall socket. The penetrating partner? Plug. The receiving partner? Socket. Voila: sex.
Flirty Sex Emojis
These are much more subtle sexy emojis that a) aren’t inherently or exclusively horny and b) have much more potential for actually coming off horny or flirtatious rather than aggressive or ironic.
23. Heart Eyes: 😍
The heart eyes are a little corny, yes, but they get the point across—the point being: “I cannot get enough of you.”
24. Side Eyes: 👀
Perhaps the most sophisticated of the horny emojis, the side eyes are the definition of suggestive. These eyes are a nonverbal, “I see you…and I’d like to see much more of you.”
25. Flaming Heart: ❤️🔥
The most overtly lusty of the heart emojis , the flaming heart is a way of conveying hot, fiery passion.
26. Angel Face: 😇
The overt innocence of the angel-face emoji means it’s most effectively deployed to offset a graphically horny sext or otherwise explicit message. It’s like the “Who, me?” of emojis.
27. Nerd: 🤓
Similar to the angel face, the nerd face seems cute and innocent—and therein lies his horniness. As anyone who went to high school knows, the shy, quiet types are always the horniest.
28. Saluting Face: 🫡
While not exclusively sexual, this obedient, upstanding gentleman has some serious kinky potential. If you trend at all submissive, you probably already see where I’m going with this. This emoji is very, “Yes, Daddy.”
29. Eager Tongue Face: 😛
This emoji is ready and eager—so ready and eager it already has its tongue out. Need I say more?
