Emoji dictionary
☠️ Skull and Crossbones emoji
[ skuhl n kraws-bohnz ih-moh-jee ]
What does ☠️ Skull and Crossbones emoji mean?
The Skull and Crossbones emoji ☠️ depicts a human skull over a crossed pair of bones. It’s a versatile emoji, relevant to topics dealing with death and dangerous substances like poison, fear, Halloween, and pirates.
The Skull and Bones emoji ☠️ combines with the Black Flag emoji 🏴 to form the Pirate Flag emoji 🏴☠️.
Where does ☠️ Skull and Crossbones emoji come from?
The Skull and Crossbones emoji ☠️ was approved under Unicode 1.1 in 1993. On most major platforms, the emoji is depicted as a human skull with no lower jaw (except on Facebook) over a pair of bones that form the shape of a cross (X).
The Skull and Crossbones emoji ☠️ is often used to represent death or danger. This is most likely a reference to the widespread use of the skull and crossbones on warning signs for hazardous materials, especially poisonous substances. The emoji is also used in the context of metaphorical expressions of death, e.g., I’m killing it at work or That joke was so funny, I’m dead.
The Skull and Crossbones emoji ☠️ is also used to discuss pirates or piracy alongside the Pirate Flag emoji 🏴☠️, which features a skull and crossbones.
Examples of ☠️ Skull and Crossbones emoji
Who uses ☠️ Skull and Crossbones emoji?
The Skull and Crossbones emoji ☠️ is used to mean death or danger, both literally and figuratively.
Rip stream! ☠️ Internet went out!
— PARKER 🌸🌸🌸 (@ThatChickParker)
The chair makes me feel hopeless and in danger ☠️
— Jasmine Bresnihan (@jasminegloriaa)
Can’t spell studying without dying☠️💀
— AldosWorldTv🐲👑 (@AldosWorldTV)
The Skull and Crossbones emoji ☠️ is also often used in references to pirates and scary things like Halloween.
Well, avast the halyards, belay the keelhaul, and strangle me parrot! ☠️
— Jan Siegel (@Siegel_Jan)
I’m so ready Halloween and all the festivities it comes with like hunted houses, scary movies, pumpkin patches & lots of candy 🎃👻🕷☠️
— De'arra Taylor (@dearra)
The Skull and Crossbones emoji ☠️ can be confused with the Skull emoji 💀 and Pirate Flag emoji 🏴☠️, although their usages overlap and are often used together.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of ☠️ Skull and Crossbones 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 ☠️ Skull and Crossbones emoji that will help our users expand their word mastery.