Open eyes
＾ ´ ` ✧ o
Suggest a smile that is being directed at someone. Best for greetings.
Cheerful, loud and celebrating
Happy Kaomoji
Happy kaomoji divide into two groups, and picking the wrong one is the usual mistake. Closed, curved eyes read as warm and sincere. Raised arms and open mouths read as excited. One suits a thank-you; the other suits good news.
(＾▽＾)
Quick answer
Which one should you use?
For a plain happy face use (＾▽＾) or (´∀｀). For excitement, add arms: ヽ(´▽`)/ and \(≧▽≦)/ both raise both hands, which is the difference between being pleased and celebrating. The ≧ ≦ eye pair means eyes squeezed shut by laughter, so it always lands harder than a simple ＾ ＾.
Copy and paste
24 happy kaomoji
Every face is plain text. Tap one to copy it, then paste it wherever you are typing — it travels as ordinary characters, not as an image.
(＾▽＾)
Plain happy
The baseline. Full-width carets keep it balanced.
(´∀｀)
Easy smile
Relaxed, faintly amused, not excited.
(≧▽≦)
Laughing
Eyes shut by laughter. A reaction, not a greeting.
(＾◡＾)
Gentle smile
The softest of the group. Closer to content than happy.
(*^▽^*)
Pleased
Blush marks make it warmer without making it cuter.
(o^▽^o)
Round and happy
The o characters act as cheeks.
(*≧∀≦*)
Very pleased
Combines shut eyes with a wide open mouth.
(´｡• ω •｡`)
Quietly happy
Touched more than excited.
(✧ω✧)
Sparkling eyes
Use it for anticipation. This is the face of someone about to get something.
(≧∇≦)/
Cheering
One raised arm; a small celebration.
ヽ(´▽`)/
Both arms up
The standard celebration face and the most recognisable of the set.
\(^o^)/
Classic cheer
Latin-only, so it survives almost any text field.
\(≧▽≦)/
Full celebration
Shut eyes plus both arms. The loudest face here.
ヾ(≧▽≦*)o
Waving and grinning
The ヾ is a shaking hand; the o is a fist.
ヽ(o^▽^o)ノ
Delighted
Both arms raised with rounded cheeks between them.
\(*^▽^*)/
Blushing cheer
Celebration with a hint of embarrassment.
ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Striding off
Reads as pleased and going somewhere; very common as a reaction.
(๑>ᴗ<๑)
Overjoyed
Rounded cheeks with eyes shut tight.
(๑˘︶˘๑)
Serene
Happy in a settled way, which makes it a good sign-off.
(*´▽`*)
Charmed
Slightly dreamy; suits admiration as much as happiness.
(＊≧∀≦)
Grinning wide
Off-centre by design, which gives it energy.
(´ ▽ ` )ﾉ
Happy wave
A greeting, not a reaction.
(*＾3＾)
Playful
The 3 mouth adds a teasing note to the smile.
(o´∀`o)
Beaming
Warm and open; works well in a reply to good news.
How they are built
The parts these faces are made of
Kaomoji are assembled rather than drawn. Once you can see the components, you can adjust any face on this page instead of hunting for a different one.
Shut eyes
≧ ≦ ˘ ᴗ >
Suggest laughter or being overwhelmed. Best for reactions.
Open mouths
▽ ∀ ◡ ∇ o
The wider the mouth, the louder the face reads.
Arms
ヽ ノ ヾ ᕕ ᕗ / \
Raised arms turn a smile into a celebration. Use one for a cheer, two for real news.
Before you paste
Getting them to arrive intact
Paste as plain text
Markdown and rich-text editors treat backslashes, underscores and asterisks as formatting. A face that loses an arm or a cheek was almost certainly parsed rather than pasted.
Match the volume
A raised-arm face under a small piece of good news comes out sarcastic. Keep ヽ(´▽`)/ for news that earns it.
Width is not guaranteed
Kana and full-width brackets are wider than Latin letters. The same face can look balanced in one app and lopsided in another, which is normal and not a broken character.
Read more
Faces with a full write-up
Some of these have their own page covering where the face came from and how its meaning has shifted.
\(≧▽≦)/
Excited Kaomoji
Both arms up with squinting delight.
Read the entryヽ(⌐■_■)ノ♪♬
Dancing Kaomoji
Sunglasses and raised arms with musical notes trailing behind.
Read the entry(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ
Happy Hug Kaomoji
The classic grinning hug face with reaching arms.
Read the entryᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
Flex Kaomoji
A determined face with both arms curled into a flex.
Read the entry
Questions
Happy Kaomoji FAQ
What is the happy kaomoji?
(＾▽＾) is the standard happy face, and ヽ(´▽`)/ is the standard celebration. The difference is the arms: without them the face is simply pleased, and with them it is reacting to something. Both are far more common than any of the elaborate variants.
What does ≧▽≦ mean?
Eyes squeezed shut above an open mouth: laughter, or happiness strong enough to close your eyes. It is stronger than ＾▽＾, which keeps the eyes open and points the smile at someone instead of reacting to something.
Which happy kaomoji work everywhere?
\(^o^)/ and (^_^) use only Latin characters and punctuation, so they survive any encoding, font or plain-text field. Every other face on this page uses kana or symbols that need a font with wider coverage. That is almost universal now, though not guaranteed on very old systems.
What is the difference between happy and cute kaomoji?
Happy faces emphasise the mouth and often add arms; cute faces emphasise the eyes and stay small. (≧▽≦) and (◕‿◕) both smile, but the first is a reaction and the second is a character. Use the mouth when the feeling is the point and the eyes when the sender is.
Keep exploring