🔪 Hocho

🔪

🔪 Meaning and usage

The original meaning of this emoji is a kitchen knife, and it is often used in its literal sense in the context of cooking, recipes, and food.

However, in online communication, its symbolic meaning has become much broader and often outweighs its direct meaning. Here are the main uses:

🔪 Direct meaning:

Cooking: "Today I'm cooking steak 🔪"; "Salad recipe: chop the tomatoes 🔪".
Sharp objects: Can refer to any sharp tool in everyday life.

🔪 Symbolic and slang meaning (most popular):

Aggression, threat, conflict: Used to convey anger, irritation, or a "virtual" threat, often in a humorous manner.

Example: "Did you eat my yogurt again? 🔪" (a playful threat).
Example: "This commenter just drives me crazy 🔪" (expression of irritation).

"Murder" (figuratively):

In speeches: "He killed that performance! 🔪" (i.e. he performed brilliantly).
In debates: "You just destroyed his argument 🔪" (won a complete victory in the discussion).

Sharpness and directness: Can mean a sharp comment or telling the truth.

Example: "I told him everything straight to his face 🔪."

Drama, Thriller, Horror: Used to discuss horror films, crime dramas, or books in this genre.

Example: "I watched a new thriller, and right from the first scene there was a 🔪."

How it appeared

The 🔪 emoji was part of the original set codified in the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010. It was originally called "Hocho" (包丁, Japanese for kitchen knife). Interestingly, in Japan, this emoji is most often associated with chef's knives and cooking, while in the West, its slang meaning has become dominant.

Interesting facts

Competition with the gun: In 2016, Apple replaced the gun emoji (🔫) with a toy water pistol to reduce its association with violence. This implicitly made the knife emoji 🔪 more popular for conveying aggression and threats online.
"Cross-cutting" meaning: In some cultures (such as China and Japan), sending a knife emoji can mean breaking off a relationship—"cutting ties."
Dual Use: Emojis are a great example of how context can completely change a symbol's meaning. In one message, it might mean "delicious dinner," while in another, it might mean "I'll kill you."

Combining 🔪 with other emojis

Combinations are highly context dependent:

🍅 + 🔪 = Cooking, salad, cooking.

Example: "Making guacamole 🥑🔪🥑"

😠 + 🔪 = Expression of anger or strong irritation.

Example: "Traffic jams drive me crazy 😠🔪"

💀 + 🔪 = Horror, something scary, or, on the contrary, something very funny (“die laughing”).

Example (about laughter): "This meme is just 💀🔪"

🎭 / 🎬 + 🔪 = Discussion of a thriller, horror movie, or drama.

Example: "The new series is just 🎬🔪"

👑 + 🔪 = "Royal reprisal", brilliant victory, dominance.

Example (about an artist's performance): "She came out on stage and 👑🔪"

🔪 for SEO website promotion

The 🔪 emoji is appropriate for websites and social media related to the following topics:

Cooking and Recipes: (Direct Meaning) Food blogs, recipe sites, food delivery pages.
Criticism and Reviews: (Symbolic meaning) To create bright, punchy titles (books, movies, games).
Drama, horror, thrillers: (Symbolic meaning) Fan communities, movie pages, TV series announcements.
Gaming and Streaming: (Symbolic meaning) To describe aggressive gameplay, in-game "kills", or an emotional reaction from a streamer.
Memes and humor: (Symbolic meaning) Public pages and channels that use humorous aggression and dark humor.
Motivation and self-development: (Symbolic meaning "victory") In the context of "killing" your goals, breaking through to success.