The classic Halloween emoji and what they mean
Jack-o-lantern is the one emoji that means Halloween and nothing else, which is why it opens almost every October caption. Ghost is the friendly, cartoonish face of the holiday; most platforms draw it with its tongue out, so it reads as playful rather than scary. Bat, spider and spider web set the scene, and black cat adds the witchy note.
Skulls come in two moods. Skull is so widely used as slang for "I'm dead (from laughing)" that on its own it often reads as a joke; skull and crossbones looks more like a poison label or pirate flag and feels darker. coffin, headstone and drop of blood push a message toward horror, while candy, lollipop and chocolate bar keep it about trick-or-treating.
Spooky emoji for costumes and monsters
The fantasy row covers most costume ideas: mage (the witch or wizard), vampire, zombie, fairy, genie and elf. Each has woman and man versions on most keyboards (for example is the usual stand-in for a witch). superhero, supervillain, ninja and princess are handy for "guess my costume" posts.
For monsters, ogre and goblin are actually the Japanese oni and tengu masks, clown face does creepy-clown duty, troll and wolf cover trolls and werewolves, and smiling face with horns or angry face with horns add a devilish wink. Horror-movie nights get kitchen knife, axe, popcorn and face screaming in fear.
Halloween symbols and text characters
Some spooky shapes exist as plain text symbols, which keep their look in usernames, bios and places that don't render emoji: โพ โฝ crescent moons, โง inverted pentagram, โธธ turned dagger (a favourite in goth and dark-aesthetic names), ๐ฑ black skull and crossbones and โผ the map symbol for a graveyard. They take the colour of the surrounding text, so they look the same in black, orange or purple.
If you search for Halloween text symbols, mix them with the emoji: a line like โธธ โพ ๐ฆ โฝ โธธ works as a divider in a story or a Discord channel name.
Halloween colours: orange, black and purple
The holiday has its own palette, and the heart emoji follow it: orange heart for pumpkins, black heart for night and purple heart for witchy glamour. Add fallen leaf, maple leaf and red apple (bobbing for apples, caramel apples) for a cosy autumn feel, or wilted flower for a gothic one.
Night scenes come from full moon, crescent moon, night with stars, fog and cloud with lightning, with derelict house or castle as the haunted house and candle, flashlight and door for the walk up to it.
Where Halloween emoji come from
Halloween grew out of the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian All Hallows' Eve on 31 October. The jack-o'-lantern started in Ireland and Scotland as a carved turnip; in North America pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve, and the we know took over.
and were part of Unicode 6.0 in 2010, carried over from Japanese phone emoji, where Halloween was already popular. and came in 2014, in 2016, in 2017, and the black cat and headstone only in 2020, so very old phones may show those last two as a cat next to a black square and an empty box.
Symbols
77Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Monsters and scary faces
Witches and haunted houses
How to use them
5 situationsClick to copyHalloween Emoji combos
14Worth knowing
- ogre and goblin are not Western monsters at all: they show the Japanese oni demon and the long-nosed tengu mask.
- The first jack-o'-lanterns in Ireland and Scotland were carved from turnips and other root vegetables, not pumpkins.
- There is no candy-corn, mummy or cauldron emoji, which is why people build them from combos like or .
- On most platforms ghost is sticking its tongue out, so it reads as cheeky rather than frightening.
Questions people ask
7How do I copy and paste Halloween emoji?
Tap or click any emoji in the grid to copy it, then paste it into your message, caption or document. Every combo above copies as one piece.
What are the best Halloween emoji combos?
for a general Happy Halloween, for trick-or-treat, for vampires and for a horror movie night. Cute versions swap in or .
What does the pumpkin emoji mean?
is officially the jack-o-lantern: a carved, glowing pumpkin face. It means Halloween, but people also use it for autumn, pumpkin spice season and pumpkin carving.
What are spooky emoji?
Spooky emoji are the ones that set a creepy mood: ghost, skull, skull and crossbones, bat, spider, web, zombie, vampire, coffin and headstone.
Are there Halloween text symbols?
Yes. โธธ are plain text symbols that work in names and bios where colour emoji don't show.
Is there a witch emoji?
There is no emoji called witch. Use woman mage, often with broom, crystal ball and black cat.
What does mean in a Halloween text?
In October it can simply mean skeletons, but most people read as "I'm dead", meaning something was extremely funny.
