Unicode 9.0 goes official with 72 new emojis

Unicode 9 emoji image 001

The Unicode Consortium, the organization which develops the Unicode standard that specifies the representation of text in all modern software, officially announced Unicode 9.0, the next major revision to the Unicode standard.

The Unicode 9.0 specification is now available to vendors with 7,500 new characters for a total of 128,172 characters, including six new scripts and 72 new emoji characters.

“Unicode 9.0 adds several characters intended to complete gender pairs, and there are ongoing efforts to provide more gender choices in the future,” reads the post. Among other important symbol additions, Unicode 9.0 includes nineteen new symbols for the new 4K TV standard.

Unicode 9.0 also adds variation sequences for every emoji character with a default text presentation and two new mechanisms for globally controlling the emoji presentation: using language tags with locale extensions and using special script codes.

“Though these are new mechanisms and not yet widely supported, vendors are encouraged to support the locale extension for most general usage such as in browsers,” writes the organization.

The 72 new emojis in Unicode 9.0 are as follows:

  • Rolling on the floor laughing
  • Face with cowboy hat
  • Clown face
  • Lying face
  • Drooling face
  • Nauseated face
  • Sneezing face
  • Prince
  • Mother christmas
  • Man in tuxedo
  • Shrug
  • Face palm
  • Pregnant woman
  • Man dancing
  • Selfie
  • Hand with index and middle fingers crossed
  • Call me hand
  • Left-facing fist
  • Right-facing fist
  • Raised back of gand
  • Handshake
  • Black heart
  • Gorilla
  • Fox face
  • Deer
  • Rhinoceros
  • Bat
  • Eagle
  • Duck
  • Owl
  • Lizard
  • Shark
  • Shrimp
  • Squid
  • Butterfly
  • Wilted flower
  • Kiwifruit
  • Avocado
  • Potato
  • Carrot
  • Cucumber
  • Peanuts
  • Croissant
  • Baguette bread
  • Pancakes
  • Bacon
  • Stuffed flatbread
  • Egg
  • Shallow pan of food
  • Green salad
  • Glass of milk
  • Clinking glasses
  • Tumbler glass
  • Spoon
  • Octagonal sign
  • Scooter
  • Motor scooter
  • Canoe
  • First place medal
  • Second place medal
  • Third place medal
  • Boxing glove
  • Martial arts uniform
  • Person doing cartwheel
  • Wrestlers
  • Water polo
  • Handball
  • Fencer
  • Goal net
  • Juggling
  • Drum with drumsticks
  • Shopping trolley

It’s interesting that a “rifle” emoji and a “modern pentathlon” one were excluded from Unicode 9.0 over objections from Apple and other members of the Unicode Consortium voting committee.

Apple’s software platforms currently include Unicode 8.0 emojis. The 72 new emoji added to the just-released Unicode 9.0 standard should be deployed across iOS 10, macOS Sierra, tvOS 10 and watchOS 3 when they release this fall.

The new scripts and characters in Unicode 9.0 add support for lesser-used languages:

  • Osage, a Native American language
  • Nepal Bhasa, a language of Nepal
  • Fulani and other African languages
  • The Bravanese dialect of Swahili, used in Somalia
  • The Warsh orthography for Arabic, used in North and West Africa
  • Tangut, a major historic script of China

For the full list and description of the 72 new emojis in Unicode 9.0, see the official website of the Unicode Consortium. For full details on Unicode 9.0, go here.

For a detailed description of support for emoji characters by the Unicode Standard, see this document.

Image via Emojipeia.org.

Source: The Unicode Consortium