Animals & Nature · Emoji 12.0
🦧Orangutan Emoji
Generally, the orangutan emoji just means “orangutan.” People use it to reference the animal itself, or to add a playful, slightly silly vibe to a message.
The 🦧 emoji is an orangutan.
- Unicode
- U+1F9A7
- Released
- 2019
- Shortcode
- :orangutan:
- Skin tones
- No
01 — Meaning
What does the 🦧 Orangutan emoji mean?
One character, many names — these are the wordings people actually type, all 3 of them.
02 — Platforms
Orangutan emoji on iPhone, Android, WhatsApp and X
Same code on both ends, different drawing on each screen — here is the orangutan as 9 vendors ship it.
See the whole set the way each system draws it — iPhone emojis, Android emojis, WhatsApp emojis and Discord emojis.
03 — Copy & codes
Orangutan emoji copy and paste
Tap any value to copy it. The emoji itself works everywhere, the escapes are for your code, and the shortcode Slack and Discord expect is :orangutan:.
All emoji copy and paste →In your code
Pick the notation your language wants. They all resolve to the orangutan, code point U+1F9A7.
04 — How to type
How to type the 🦧 Orangutan emoji
No picker to hand? The orangutan can be typed straight from the keyboard — the codes for that are below, one per system.
05 — Download
Orangutan emoji PNG and SVG
Grab the orangutan as transparent PNG or SVG. Each system ships its own drawing, and the licence stays with the vendor, all 9 of them.
Emoji PNG library →
Apple
Google
Twitter / X
Facebook
Microsoft
WhatsApp
JoyPixels
06 — Combinations
Orangutan emoji combinations
Ready-made combos built around orangutan for bios, captions and comments. Tap to copy.
All combinations →Want two emojis fused into one sticker instead of set side by side? Emoji Kitchen does that for every pair Google has drawn, and there are more ready-made pairs in emoji combinations and aesthetic emoji combos.
07 — In conversation
What 🦧 means from a girl or a guy
The same character carries a different intent depending on the sender and the message before it.
08 — Around the world
What 🦧 means in other countries
Carries a similar history to the gorilla emoji, having been used in racist attacks on Black public figures in Europe.
Used in racist attacks on Black public figures, including a well-known case against an Italian government minister.
Straightforward national-wildlife reference, since orangutans are native there and central to conservation messaging.
Common shorthand for rainforest and deforestation awareness campaigns.
Before you send it: Reserve it for wildlife topics; sending it about a person carries a real risk of reading as a racist jab.
09 — Apps
What 🦧 means on TikTok, WhatsApp and Discord
The character is the same everywhere, but the artwork and the reading of it change from app to app.
11 — History
Where the 🦧 Orangutan emoji came from
When it was approved, which release it landed in, and how long phones have had it.
Same character every time — U+1F9A7 never changed. Only the drawing did, and only because each vendor redraws its own set. Someone on an older phone still sees the older picture.
Orangutan was approved as U+1F9A7 and shipped in Emoji 12.0 (2019). Phones usually get new artwork about a year after approval, in a system update.
Every vendor keeps its own artwork, so 🦧 is redrawn by Apple, Google, Twitter / X, Facebook, OpenMoji, Samsung, Microsoft, WhatsApp, JoyPixels. The character you send never changes — only the picture does.
12 — FAQ