Crying Emoticons & Sad Kaomoji Guide (。•́︿•̀。)

Sadness comes in many intensities — from slightly sulky to full-on wailing. Crying kaomoji cover that whole spectrum, and when you pick just the right one, your feelings come through without a long explanation.

A catalog by intensity

• Sulky (。•́︿•̀。) (´•̥ ̯ •̥ˋ) — the drooping eyebrows (•́ •̀) are the point. For mild disappointment.
• Welling up (;_;) (pᴗp) — semicolons and p become brimming, teary eyes.
• Tears streaming (T_T) (ToT) — the classic. T is the flowing tear itself.
• Wailing ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´ωˋﾟ)ﾟ｡ (≧口≦) — the ﾟ｡ around the face are teardrops flying in every direction.
• Collapsed _| ̄|○ — kneeling in defeat, seen from behind. Closer to despair than sadness.

You can copy the full list at the crying/sad emoticons collection.

What the tear characters really are

T is just the alphabet letter, standing in for a tear track, while ﾟ and ｡ are Japanese half-width marks transformed into water droplets. Eyes with eyebrows like •́ •̀ are combining accent marks stacked on top of dots. Reinterpreting characters far from their original purpose as facial expressions is the fun of kaomoji culture. If you're curious about how the combinations work, there's more in the kaomoji usage guide.

How to use them well

For genuinely sad news, plain words with no emoticon; for light grumbling, an exaggerated wailing kaomoji fits best. Something like my whole assignment is gone ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´ωˋﾟ)ﾟ｡ — the over-the-top crying face delivers the tragicomedy without feeling heavy. When a friend sends a sad kaomoji, reply with the comforting kind — a hugging combo like (っ´ωˋ)ﾉ(╥ω╥) works well. You'll find plenty of comfort combos in the love emoticons too.

Try making your own

If you want to express the exact shade of your sadness, try combining tears in the Emoticon Maker — cheeks from the ๑´•.̫ • ˋ๑ family, parts like ; and ﾟ. Save the expressions you use often to Favorites, and you can pull them up the moment someone urgently needs comforting.