What does the black heart emoji 🖤 mean?

The red heart emoji is one of the most commonly used emojis, and dozens more have a heart in them. Perhaps the example with the trickiest meaning to define is the black heart emoji 🖤, which seems to offer a mixed message between the love conveyed by the heart and the dark theme. So what does the black heart emoji mean?

There isn’t one definitive answer to this question. We’ve outlined how the emoji is most commonly used to help you avoid a misunderstanding.

What does the black heart emoji mean?

The black heart emoji meaning can relate to a dark or sad theme, but not necessarily. And in any event, it’s still a heart emoji. Sometimes it’s useful to convey both a black color and the usual meaning of a heart. Here are some examples of how it might be used.

Sadness or sorrow

The most obvious situation in which you might want to show love but also want to acknowledge a bleak situation is when you’re being supportive of someone in a sad moment.

• “Sorry to hear about your grandpa 🖤”
• “I know things don’t look good right now, but I’m here for you 🖤”

Dark humor

Dark humor can be risky as it could easily be misinterpreted, especially via text messages. The black heart can be used to clarify or acknowledge dark humor.

• “I laughed at the way the bad guy died in that movie! 🖤”
• “Lol! Dude, that’s grim! 😂🖤”

Support for a team or cause with a black motif

People often use the heart color that best relates to the thing they’re supporting. If that’s a sports team that plays in black, for example, the black heart emoji makes sense. It has also been used in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

• “Black Lives Matter ✊🖤”
• “Forza Juventus! 🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤🤍”

Love

There’s no reason not to use the black heart emoji to express love. It might be especially pertinent if your partner enjoys a gothic aesthetic.

• “I love you this much 👉🏼❤️💚💛💙💜🤍🤎🖤”
• “You’re the Morticia to my Gomez 🖤“

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