U+1F921 · emoji since 2016
The clown face rarely means the circus. Online it's self deprecation or a roast: someone did something foolish, and the makeup applies itself.
Texted about your own bad decisions it's charming honesty. Aimed at someone else it's a full roast, so aim carefully. Honk honk.
In texting, 🤡 does not carry a widely used hidden or slang meaning, so you can usually take it at face value. People send it just as it looks, to add a little visual touch or set the mood of a message. Only a handful of emoji have a separate texting code, and 🤡 is not really one of them.
Its official Unicode name is the Clown Face emoji. In everyday chat most people just call it the clown face emoji or describe what it shows. Copy and paste it from the button at the top of this page.
The 🤡 leads off a short phrase, and the rest of the words are written in cipher, every letter disguised as another emoji. Tap decipher to reveal the whole line.
Or make your own cipher in the translator.