🙏 Folded Hands
what it means
Officially folded hands, widely read as prayer or gratitude, and persistently misread as a high five. The ambiguity has never fully resolved.
Please, thank you, prayer — or a high five, depending on who you ask.
the origin story
Added to Unicode in 2010, originating from Japanese usage where the gesture conveys please and thank you.
The high-five reading became a long-running internet argument, with Emojipedia and others repeatedly clarifying the intended meaning. Its Japanese origin — where the gesture accompanies both requests and thanks — explains its breadth better than either Western reading does.
in the wild
I covered your shift.
🙏 thank you genuinely
It's obviously a high five.
It has never been a high five.
how to use it
- Expressing thanks or a request
- Sincere gratitude in messages
- Contexts where prayer is intended
- Where the religious reading would be unwelcome
- As a high five, which most people won't read that way
- Alone, where the meaning is unclear
related terms
receipts
Community feedback
keep scrolling
Glow-Down
The opposite of a glow-up — appearing to have declined rather than improved.
Slept On
Underrated — overlooked despite being genuinely good.
Hot Girl Summer
A season spent being confident, unbothered and out enjoying yourself.
Cheat Code
A trick or advantage that makes something much easier than it should be.