Emoji dictionary
? Izakaya Lantern emoji
[ee-zuh-kahy-uh lan-tern ih-moh-jee]
What does ??Izakaya Lantern emoji mean?
The izakaya lantern emoji,??, is designed to look like a red paper lantern that’s typically hung outside an izakaya, a Japanese bar that usually also serves small, mostly fried or grilled dishes.?Like a pub, but Japanese. The emoji is used to represent not only such pubs, but Japanese and East Asian culture more generally.?
Where does ? Izakaya Lantern emoji come from?
The Japanese characters izakaya,?¾Ó¾ÆÎÝ, mean ¡°to be/exist¡± (i/¾Ó), ¡°alcohol¡± (zaka/¾Æ), and ¡°shop/seller¡± (ya/ÎÝ). A literal translation of the word could be something like ¡°a shop that has alcohol¡± or ¡°alcohol stand¡± (as in ¡°fruit stand¡±). FYI, zaka/¾Æ can also be pronounced sake, and is the character for the specific drink, too.
In Japan, izakayas traditionally hang a red paper lantern out in front to mark themselves as bars for interested parties. (Think a Guinness sign outside an Irish pub.) They usually have words painted on them like ¾Ó¾ÆÎÝ (izakaya), ¾Æ (sake/alcohol), or, you know, the name of the bar.
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These lanterns are known as akachochin (³àÌáµÆ), which literally translates as ¡°red paper lantern.¡± Izakayas are so closely connected with the red paper lanterns, in fact, that one slang term for these bars is actually akachochin. These lanterns, and their bars, are what the softly lit ? emoji?is designed to resemble.
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The Unicode Consortium released the izakaya lantern emoji in August 2010 as part of Unicode 6.0, which was the first version of the Unicode standard to support emoji. It’s?officially called izakaya lantern emoji but commonly referred to as red paper lantern emoji.
Examples of ? Izakaya Lantern emoji
Who uses ? Izakaya Lantern emoji?
You¡¯ll often see the izakaya lantern emoji in the captions of pictures taken at real izakayas.
Since lanterns like the one?izakaya lantern emoji?represents are common to see at festivals and shrines across Asia (not just in Japan), this emoji also shows up next to pictures of Asian festivals, shrines, and temples. Or pretty much whenever someone sees one¡ªor any lantern, for that matter¡ªin the wild.
Like the?cherry blossom emoji ? and many others, izakaya lantern emoji?also gets used for its bright red color. You¡¯ll sometimes find it being used to highlight, reflect, or accentuate something red in a picture, like lipstick or a cute sweater.
My room a whole new vibe ??
— Lance ? (@Lanceski23)
???????????? (all the orange-ish emojis that I can find)
— the swan queen (@nisstrilla)
The izakaya lantern emoji?also gets used to reference Asian and Asian-style things in general. Think Lunar New Year, anime, K-pop, or any situation where you might also see ?? or ?¡ªthis usage isn’t exclusive to Japan references. Be careful, though, not to generalize or conflate Asian cultures with this emoji.
Art from China ???
— Sergey Silkin (@sergey_silkin)
Fairest of them All ?
[ Prince Seokjin ] ?— ? rich | ±ÌÕä ? (@yeonkiminsgirl)
lil fanart of Mulan from the trailers
?????— Partaytoes (@Partaytoes)
For some, the izakaya lantern is also a way of signaling Asian pride.
? ALERT – is a MUST SEE rom-com!!!
? rates it at 100%
? Hilariously funny
? Romantic and heart warming
? Clever story
? Amazing cast
? Asian pride
? GET UR CREW together & get tickets NOW!— ? (@jleung)
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of ? Izakaya Lantern emoji like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of ? Izakaya Lantern emoji that will help our users expand their word mastery.