🖕 Middle Finger emoji

The raising of one’s middle finger (also referred to as “giving someone the finger,” “flipping someone off,” or “flipping the bird”) is a traditionally obscene gesture in Western culture. The gesture dates as far back as 423 BC when Ancient-Greek comic-playwright Aristophanes used the gesture in his play, The Clouds. It is considered a phallic symbol, originally meant to threaten violent sexual penetration, which has developed into its contemporary meaning of “fuck you” or “go fuck yourself.” It is now often used to express displeasure, rage, excitement, or protest.

Approved by Unicode in 2014 (U+1F595), the middle finger emoji became widely popular at the end of 2015. This is when Apple released the iOS 9.1 update, which included the middle finger among several new emoji. The emoji’s official name is Reversed Hand With Middle Finger Extended, and it also goes by the names rude finger, flipping the bird, and dito medio.