Japanese “secret” button Emoji

Symbols

A red circle containing the white Japanese kanji character 'hi' (秘), which translates to 'secret' or 'hidden.' The design mimics the style of rubber stamps used in Japanese offices to mark confidential documents.

Usage Context

Used to signal that a message is private, confidential, or an insider tip. It is frequently employed in casual conversation to tease a piece of gossip or a 'secret' project, often paired with the 🤫 shushing face or the 🤐 zipper-mouth face to emphasize discretion.

History

This symbol was added to the Unicode standard in 2010. It originates from the traditional Japanese practice of using 'hanko' or seal stamps to designate sensitivity levels on business correspondence, a system that transitioned directly into early mobile messaging shorthand.

Details

Glyph

㊙

Unicode

U+3299

Shortcode

:emoji_u3299:

HTML Entity

㊙

Specifications

Vendor Microsoft

Category Symbols

Subcategory alphanum

Unicode Version 6.0

Emoji Version 1.0

License MIT

Microsoft Fluent License

Emoji graphics by Microsoft. © Microsoft Corporation. Licensed under MIT. Excludes assets such as Clippy, flags, and trademarks.

Microsoft Fluent Emoji assets are licensed under the MIT License. Certain assets—such as Clippy, country flags, and Microsoft product/brand trademarks—are excluded from this license and may not be used without separate permission.

MIT License Fluent Emoji Repository