Is there a retirement emoji?
Not an official one: Unicode has no rocking chair, gold watch or "retired" sign. What people use instead is Beach with Umbrella (in Unicode since 7.0, 2014), the picture of a working life that has ended in a deck chair, and it is the emoji most apps suggest when you type "retirement". Older Person (2017) is the only person emoji for the retiree themselves; the grey-haired and faces exist on most keyboards too. Partying Face, Party Popper and bring the celebration, Clapping Hands and Trophy the "well done".
The clearest retirement message is a before-and-after: something from work, then something from the new life. Alarm Clock to beach, Briefcase to golf, Office Building to fishing. needs no words at all. Put a celebration emoji at the end, or , and the wish is complete.
Happy retirement emoji text and combos
A happy retirement emoji text usually opens with the words and closes with three to five emoji: "Happy retirement! " or "Congratulations on your retirement ". Pick one emoji for the celebration, one for what the person will do now and one for the feeling. For a golfer, ; for an angler, ; for a gardener, ; for a traveller, ; for someone who wants to do nothing at all, .
Match the tone to the person. For a parent or grandparent, warmth over noise: or for "more time with the grandkids". For a boss or a colleague in a work chat, keep it to the classics, , and let Saluting Face say "thank you for your service" without a speech. For a friend retiring early, reads as "free at last". For a card or a group e-card that many people sign, are the emoji that print well and look right to everyone.
Clocking out: the last-day emoji
The clock family does a lot of work on retirement day. Alarm Clock is the one you no longer need, Watch and Mantelpiece Clock stand for the traditional retirement gift (the gold watch is often traced to the Pabst Brewing Company in the 1940s), and for the years counted down, and for the date circled on the calendar. The office side of the message is Briefcase, Laptop closed for good, the badge handed in and the keys returned, then Door, End Arrow and Chequered Flag for the finish line.
Money has its own corner. Money Bag, Bank and Coin stand for the pension, for the savings that finally pay out. Fire is the badge of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early), which is why or in a bio means someone retired decades ahead of schedule rather than "this is lit".
Retirement symbols: text versions that work anywhere
People also search for a retirement symbol in plain text, for a card, an email signature or a banner where colour emoji look out of place. There is no single Unicode retirement symbol, but a few plain characters carry the idea: for the sun, and for the flag at the finish, for "done", for all the free time ahead, for the hourglass, for the lighthouse on the coast and for the plane out. frame the words the way they do in birthday and anniversary lines: happy retirement or enjoy every minute .
These are ordinary text characters, so they take the font's colour and size and survive being pasted into Word, Outlook or a printed card. Anchor, Sailboat, Airplane, Hot Beverage and Hourglass are emoji that began as text symbols; on most systems you can get the plain black version by typing the character followed by the text variation selector .
Retirement emoji on iPhone, WhatsApp and Slack
There is no "retirement" category on any emoji keyboard, so search for the pieces: on iPhone open the emoji keyboard and type "beach", "golf", "clock" or "party"; on Android Gboard and in WhatsApp the emoji search works the same way. On a computer press Windows key . (period) or Control Command Space on a Mac. Everything on this page can simply be copied and pasted into the message.
In Slack, Discord and GitHub the shortcodes are :beach_with_umbrella: for , :golf: for , :tada: for and :champagne: for . If you came here for "retired emojis", meaning emoji that were removed: Unicode never deletes a character once it is encoded, so no standard emoji has ever been retired. Only custom emoji on a Discord server or a Twitch channel can be, and those are gone when the server removes them.
Symbols
218Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Happy retirement
What people send first: the beach, the party and the thank-you.
Clocking out
The last day at work: the clock, the briefcase, the finish line and the pension.
Beach, sun and travel
Slow mornings
Read, rest and take it slow.
How to use them
6 situationsClick to copyRetirement Emoji combos
15Worth knowing
- The idea of a state pension at a set age comes from Germany: Otto von Bismarck's old-age insurance law of 1889 paid out from age 70, lowered to 65 in 1916. The United States set 65 as the retirement age in the Social Security Act of 1935.
- The gold watch as a retirement gift is usually traced to the Pabst Brewing Company, which is said to have given one to retiring employees in the 1940s with the line that they had "given us their time, so we give them time".
- Fishing Pole was encoded in 2010 under the name "Fishing Pole and Fish", which is why the fish is still on the hook in every vendor's design. Flag in Hole is a year older and came from a set of Japanese map symbols.
- Nobody has ever retired an emoji. Unicode's stability policy says an encoded character is never removed, so even the oldest 1993 symbols such as Watch and Hourglass are still here; only custom emoji on Discord or Twitch can disappear.
- The "retirement emoji game" is a party game: guests decode retirement phrases written only in emoji, such as for "golden years" or for "no more alarm clock", with the host holding the answer sheet.
Questions people ask
8Is there a retirement emoji?
No official one. People use Beach with Umbrella as the retirement emoji, with for the retiree, and for the job left behind and for what comes next.
How do I copy and paste retirement emoji?
Tap or click any emoji in the grid on this page to copy it, then paste it into your message, card or post. The combos copy as one string.
What emoji means retirement?
A before-and-after pair says it best: or . On its own, is the closest thing to a retirement emoji, and turn it into congratulations.
What is a good happy retirement emoji text?
"Happy retirement! " is the standard. Swap the middle emoji for the person's plans: for golf, for fishing, for the garden, for travel, for the grandkids.
What emoji do you use for a retirement party?
for the party itself, for decorations, plus a theme emoji such as or . Put before the date on the invite.
What is the retirement emoji game?
A party game where retirement phrases are written only in emoji and guests guess them, like the emoji pictionary played at baby showers. is "no more alarm clock", is "golden years".
Which emojis have been retired?
None. Unicode never removes an encoded character, so every standard emoji ever released still works. "Retired emojis" on Discord or Twitch are custom emoji a server or channel took down.
How do I find retirement emoji on iPhone or WhatsApp?
Search the emoji keyboard for "beach", "golf", "fishing", "clock" or "party"; there is no retirement category. On Windows press Windows key . to open the emoji panel.
