What Do All Of These Different Heart Emojis Mean?

Love is complicated. And on the internet or over text message, it can be particularly hard to express your feelings. That’s where emoji can be helpful.

For every different kind of love and attraction, there’s a different heart emoji (and there are a lot of heart emoji … you’ve been warned). From beating hearts to purple ones, we’ve rounded up all of the different emoji hearts and will try to break down what they represent—so the next time you’re confessing your undying love for the person next door via Tweet, of course, you’ll know exactly which heart to send.

red heart emoji ❤️ and black-heart suit emoji ♥️

The red heart emoji, ❤️, is used in warm emotional contexts. It can be used to express gratitude, love, happiness, affection, and the genuinely warm and fuzzy feelings associated with pleasure and joy. The number of hearts can vary too. More hearts can be used for emphasis.

The black heart suit emoji, ♥️, is intended to refer to the heart suit in a deck of cards. While occasionally noting card games or gambling, most people use it for love and affection as it looks like the red heart emoji ❤️ on some platforms. Speaking of its name, black heart suit emoji sounds a lot like black heart emoji 🖤 but it’s not … we’ll get to that one later.

If these emoji aren’t dramatic enough to show just how in love you are, you might want to use …

beating heart emoji 💓 and growing heart emoji 💗

Depicting a pulsing pink or red heart symbol, the beating heart emoji, 💓, is used as an intensive form of the red heart emoji ❤️, expressing passionate love, happiness, excitement, and even obsession.

It can also be used to convey ideas or feelings of health, vitality, and life … because the heart is beating like a pulse like the one inside your body, get it.

The growing heart emoji, 💗, shows a pink or red heart surrounded by the outlines of several slightly lighter-colored hearts of increasing size, which suggests that the heart is expanding.

The growing heart emoji is used whenever someone wants to show an outpouring of love, joy, pride, or any strong, positive emotion that would cause your heart to swell or grow. (If your heart literally swells or grows, please contact a doctor immediately).

Maybe these vibrating heart emoji still aren’t quite enough to show your love. That’s where you might want to use …

revolving hearts emoji 💞 and two hearts emoji 💕

The revolving hearts emoji, 💞, depicts two tiny hearts orbiting each other (or spinning in a circle). It’s used to express a very animated or heightened sense (like dizzying feelings) of love, affection, or joy as well as to show reciprocal love for another person or group. Those little lines in the revolving hearts emoji make it a different emoji than two hearts emoji … FYI.

The two hearts emoji, 💕, is widely used as a symbol of romantic love, but it can also be used to show affection for other close relationships, such as with family and friends. Because it looks the hearts are floating, the two hearts emoji can sometimes more specifically convey the sense of love is in the air to represent a general romantic mood or atmosphere.

Maybe you want to be a bit more playful with your expression of affection. That’s where yet another heart emoji can come in handy …

sparkling heart emoji 💖

Twinkle, twinkle, little heart: The sparkling heart emoji, 💖, variously shows love and affection, often with a happy, playful, or sweet tone.

While the glimmers of the sparkling heart emoji can suggest being head over heels, the emoji is also often used for feelings of peace on earth and goodwill toward all.

Of course, romantic love isn’t the only kind of affection you might want to express. That’s what this next emoji comes in handy for …

yellow heart emoji 💛

The yellow heart emoji, 💛, can convey love, just like any other heart symbol or emoji, but the color yellow can symbolize happiness, positivity, and hope (think sunshine), which helps explain why this emoji may skew toward feelings of friendship and joy as opposed to the romantic passion of a classic red heart.

Its color also works for all things yellow, from sports team colors to dresses.

The yellow heart emoji isn’t the only one that has a unique color, there’s also …

purple heart emoji 💜

The purple heart emoji, 💜, can express romantic love or sexual attraction. But it’s often also used to emphasize glamour and wealth. Someone posting a picture of their shmancy vacation or designer outfit—or if they just feel particularly fly that day—might illustrate their post with some purple heart emoji.

It’s also used to show love of all things purple.

Sometimes, sadly, love goes south or you suffer a loss. When that happens, you might want to use …

broken heart emoji 💔

What becomes of the broken hearted? One thing’s for sure: they use the broken heart emoji, 💔.

In texts and on social media, this emoji is used to express grief after a breakup, loss, or other setbacks. While often sincere, its tone can also be more playful, over-exaggerating a frustration or fawning over a crush.

When a beloved celebrity dies, social media is flooded with the broken heart emoji as users express their grief.

The broken heart emoji isn’t the only heart emoji for sadness. There’s also …

black heart emoji 🖤

The black heart emoji, 🖤, is the perfect emoji for a rainy day when you’re sitting inside, listening to My Chemical Romance or Dashboard Confessional, and feeling angst-y and misunderstood.

It often means you are feeling emo, have a dark twisted soul, morbid sense of humor, or just love sad stuff.

Sometimes an emoji just won’t cut it though. If that’s the case, you might consider using …