Emoji vs Emoticon vs Kaomoji
Emoji, emoticon and kaomoji are often mixed up, but they are three different things. Knowing the difference helps you pick the right one for the mood you want and understand why some “faces” are pictures while others are made of punctuation.
Emoticons
Emoticons are the originals: faces made from ordinary keyboard characters that you read by tilting your head, like :) or :-D. They are plain text and work virtually everywhere.
Emojis
Emojis are picture characters defined by Unicode, such as 😀 or ❤️. Each device draws them with its own artwork, so the same emoji can look a little different across platforms.
Kaomoji
Kaomoji are Japanese-style faces made from text that you read upright without tilting your head, like (＾▽＾). They are more expressive than simple emoticons and, being text, paste cleanly into most places.