(:

What Does (: Mean?

(: Means "Happy"

The emoticon (: represents a happy face. It is a flipped version of :), but it has exactly the same meaning. You might think of it as a less popular, slightly quirky cousin of the original.

Like all emoticons, it has now been replaced by emojis (such as 😀 and 😊), but some Millenials and other "old schoolers" still sometimes use it out of habit (it's often faster to type (: than to find the emoji you're looking for), while Zoomers might use it to make messages stand out or look cuter.

Image for (:

(: is just another smiley face

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Summary of Key Points

(:
Definition:	Happy
Type:	Emoticon
Guessability:	1: Easy to guess
Typical Users:	Adults, Teenagers, and Under 13s

An Academic Look at (:

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(: is an old-school emoticon. Emoticons are basically the OG emojis — little faces made from keyboard symbols. They let you show vibes and feelings in text, like happy, sad, or annoyed, without using actual pictures. Just a few characters (letters, numbers, or symbols from a standard keyboard) are used to make a mini-illustration of the mood you're trying to send.

Emoticons have largely been made redundant on most messaging apps, as users now have access to emojis and many emoticons are automatically replaced with the corresponding emoji. However, many people still use them when they're in a hurry or want to give a message an old school vibe.