Home / Bear kaomoji / ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ
ʕ•ᴥ•ʔBear kaomoji
Two phonetic symbols and a snout — the friendliest face on the internet.
Click the face to copy it · also known as kuma, the bear face
What it means
The bear is warmth without irony. It has no edge, no punchline, and no second reading, which makes it unusually useful in a medium where almost everything can be read as sarcastic. People use it to soften a request, to say thank you, or to be affectionate without being effusive. It became a mascot on Tumblr and messaging apps for exactly this reason.
Where each character comes from
Every kaomoji is borrowed type. None of these characters were designed to be part of a face.
| Char | Code point | Unicode name | Role in the face |
|---|---|---|---|
| ʕ | U+0295 | LATIN LETTER PHARYNGEAL VOICED FRICATIVE | The left ear — a rounded bracket with a flat top. |
| • | U+2022 | BULLET | The eyes: small, dark, and set wide. |
| ᴥ | U+1D25 | LATIN LETTER AIN | The snout. This single character carries the entire bear. |
| ʔ | U+0294 | LATIN LETTER GLOTTAL STOP | The right ear, mirroring the left. |
All three shape-carrying characters come from the International Phonetic Alphabet. ʕ and ʔ are IPA symbols for pharyngeal and glottal consonants; ᴥ is a phonetic letter ain. They were borrowed with no regard for their linguistic meaning — the ʕ ʔ pair simply happens to form round ears, and ᴥ happens to look like a muzzle. The result is a face that phonetics researchers and Tumblr users can both read, differently.
How to type it without breaking it
Copy it. IPA characters are not on standard keyboards. The bear is highly modular once you have the brackets: swap the eyes for mood (ʕ￫ᴥ￩ʔ looks away, ʕ￩ᴥ￫ʔ looks back) and the snout stays put.
When to use it
Thanks, greetings, apologies, and any message that would sound curt without something warm at the end. It's the safest kaomoji to send to someone whose sense of humour you don't yet know.
Variants of the bear kaomoji
Same idea, different mood. Click any to copy.
FAQ
What are the ʕ and ʔ characters?
How do I change the bear's expression?
Other faces worth knowing
The kaomoji with names of their own — each one with its own page.