🙈 See-No-Evil Monkey Emoji Meaning: Shy, Embarrassed or Oops?

🙈 See-No-Evil Monkey is the little monkey covering its eyes. People send it when they feel shy, embarrassed or can't bear to look, and it's one of the cutest ways to say "oops!".

What does 🙈 mean?

The 🙈 emoji shows a brown monkey with both hands over its eyes. Its official name is See-No-Evil Monkey (U+1F648). It comes from the Japanese "three wise monkeys": see no evil 🙈, hear no evil 🙉 and speak no evil 🙊.

Online it mostly means "I can't look", "I'm embarrassed", "oops" or a shy, giggly reaction to a compliment or a flirty message.

When to use 🙈

• After an embarrassing mistake: "sent that to the wrong person 🙈"
• Reacting shyly to a compliment.
• Flirty, giggly moments with a crush.
• Not wanting to watch something scary or cringe.
• Playful denial: "I didn't see anything 🙈"

🙈 in real conversations

What does 🙈 mean from a girl or a guy?

When a girl or a guy replies 🙈 to your compliment, they're usually flattered and shy, often a good sign. After a mistake, it simply means they're embarrassed. It's a light, playful emoji, almost never negative.

🙈 vs the three wise monkeys

• 🙈 See-No-Evil: I can't look, I'm shy.
• 🙉 Hear-No-Evil: I don't want to hear it.
• 🙊 Speak-No-Evil: oops, I said too much, or "I won't tell".

Tap any emoji below to copy it:

🙈 🙉 🙊 🐵 🤭 😳

Popular 🙈 combos to copy

• 🙈🙉🙊 = the three wise monkeys
• 🙈💕 = shy and in love
• 🙈😂 = embarrassed laughter
• 🙈🤭 = giggling, oops

🙈🙉🙊 🙈💕 🙈😂 🙈🤭

The story behind 🙈

See-No-Evil Monkey belongs to the very first generation of emojis, standardized in Unicode 6.0 in 2010 after years of use on Japanese phones. It comes from the Three Wise Monkeys (🙈 🙉 🙊) of the Japanese proverb "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil", famously carved at the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō.

🙈 in captions, comments and DMs

On TikTok, 🙈 tags shy, embarrassing and "I can't look" moments. On Instagram, it is used for embarrassing throwback photos and shy confessions.

Don't get 🙈 wrong

🙈 can look flirty-shy to some people. With coworkers, 😅 is a safer way to show embarrassment.

How 🙈 looks on different devices

🙈 is a standard Unicode emoji. On iPhone, iPad and Mac it appears as Apple's cute brown monkey; Android, Samsung and Windows show their own versions.

FAQ

Is 🙈 flirty?

It can be. It often shows shy, giggly feelings toward someone.

What's the difference between 🙈 and 🙊?

🙈 is "I can't look"; 🙊 is "oops, I shouldn't have said that".

How do I copy 🙈?

Press the Copy Emoji button at the top of this page, then paste it anywhere.