People & Body · Emoji 11.0
🦴Bone Emoji
Generally, the 🦴 emoji just means a bone. People use it to talk about animals, health, or sometimes just as a silly symbol.
The 🦴 emoji represents a bone.
- Unicode
- U+1F9B4
- Released
- 2018
- Shortcode
- :bone:
- Skin tones
- No
01 — Meaning
What does the 🦴 Bone emoji mean?
People search for this character under a lot of different names, and the ones we have collected number 4.
People also look for it as skeleton emoji.
02 — Platforms
Bone emoji on iPhone, Android, WhatsApp and X
Same code on both ends, different drawing on each screen — here is the bone 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
Bone emoji copy and paste
Everything here is the same character in different notation — including the shortcode chat apps know it by, :bone:.
All emoji copy and paste →In your code
Escapes for the languages people actually paste this into. Every one of them produces the same character, and that character is U+1F9B4.
04 — How to type
How to type the 🦴 Bone emoji
Where the emoji key lives on each system — and the codes for when there is no picker at all.
05 — Download
Bone emoji PNG and SVG
Grab the bone 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
06 — Combinations
Bone emoji combinations
Ready-made combos built around bone 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 with 🦴, and there are more ready-made pairs in emoji combinations and aesthetic emoji combos.
08 — In conversation
What 🦴 means from a girl or a guy
Same emoji, different intent depending on who sent it and what came before.
09 — Around the world
What 🦴 means in other countries
Mostly a literal medical or Halloween-season image, but “bone” carries a well-known sexual slang meaning in English.
references a fracture, X-ray, or Halloween/skeleton themes with no innuendo
“bone” as a verb is common crude slang for sex, changes the reading fast in flirty threads
Before you send it: Fine for medical or spooky-season posts; skip it in flirty banter unless the innuendo is intended.
10 — Apps
What 🦴 means on TikTok, WhatsApp and Discord
One code point, several readings — where the bone lands changes how it is taken.
12 — Difference
🦴 vs ☠️ — what is the difference?
Two emojis that get mixed up constantly. They are different characters with different names.
Unicode name: Bone
Code: U+1F9B4 · added 2018
Shortcode: :bone:
Generally, the 🦴 emoji just means a bone.
Unicode name: Skull and Crossbones
Code: U+2620 U+FE0F · added 2015
Shortcode: :skull_and_crossbones:
Generally, the ☠️ means something is dangerous, serious, or potentially harmful.
13 — History
Where the 🦴 Bone emoji came from
Approved as part of Emoji 11.0, the bone has been on phones for years now — counting from its release, 8.
Same character every time — U+1F9B4 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.
Bone was approved as U+1F9B4 and shipped in Emoji 11.0 (2018). 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.
14 — FAQ