The long-awaited blood emoji is finally here

But what does it mean?

The blood emoji.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Seremin/iStock, Asya_mix/iStock, Apple)

It's a bad day to be the bleeding syringe emoji.

For years, the baffling symbol — depicted on most devices as a syringe spewing flecks of blood (or Kool-Aid...?) — was the grim lone option for anyone who wanted to say anything nonverbally about blood. For iPhone users, all that changed Monday, when Apple rolled out iOS 13.2, an update that pushed a previously approved 398 additional symbols onto emoji keyboards. In addition to new icons representing yo-yos, auto rickshaws, sloths, motorized wheelchairs, mechanical arms, waffles, juice boxes, and banjos, Apple supplied us with U+1FA78: a suggestive red droplet.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.