Squid

A squid, the animal, and anything made from or named after it.

A squid is a soft-bodied sea animal with a long pointed body, a pair of fins at the tip, large eyes and ten limbs: eight arms plus two longer tentacles for catching prey. It swims backwards by jet propulsion and squirts a cloud of dark ink to escape. Squids range from finger-sized to the giant squid, recorded at about 13 metres including its tentacles, which is why they star in sea-monster stories.

On a plate, squid becomes calamari (from the Italian word for squid, often served as fried rings), grilled squid at a beach bar, ika sushi in Japan, or black squid-ink pasta, and arroz negro, Spain's black rice. So 🦑 shows up in dinner plans, restaurant reviews and holiday photos as readily as in nature posts.

Since the Korean Netflix series Squid Game arrived in 2021, the emoji has also been a quick way to tag a post about the show, its games or its costumes.

What does it mean when someone sends 🦑?

Mostly what it looks like, or a playful joke.

The words around it usually settle it: food talk means squid on the menu, sea talk means the animal, TV or costume talk most likely means Squid Game. Sent alone with no context, it is most likely a playful reaction or an in-joke between friends. It is not a known code for flirting or an insult, so there is nothing to decode; if in doubt, just ask.