U+1F62C · emoji since 2015
The grimace is a clenched awkward smile, the face of yikes. It reacts to cringe moments, uncomfortable truths, and things that are about to go badly.
It's also the apologetic wince before bad news: so, funny story 😬. Whatever follows, brace yourself.
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 Grimacing Face emoji. In everyday chat most people just call it the grimacing 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.