Crab

Mostly the animal, the food or the beach. Next to dinner plans it means crab on the menu; next to holiday photos it means the shore, tide pools and sunburn.

It also stands for Cancer, the zodiac sign for people born roughly between late June and late July. Cancer is Latin for crab, so some people use 🦀 in birthday wishes or profiles instead of, or beside, the zodiac symbol ♋.

A whole line of crabs is something else. In 2018 the electronic track Crab Rave came out with a video of animated crabs dancing on an island, and posting rows of crabs around news like “X IS GONE” became the internet's way of throwing a party when an unpopular person, rule or long-running problem disappears.

What does 🦀 mean when someone sends it to you?

The words around it decide, not the crab itself. With food or travel talk it is literal and friendly. With a sulky face or a Monday complaint, an English speaker may be punning on “crabby”, meaning grumpy.

With news that something is over, crabs mean “finally!”. That is harmless when the thing gone is a bug, a rule or a heatwave, but if the news is someone's firing, breakup or ban, dancing crabs look like celebrating their misfortune.