U+23F8 · emoji since 2014
The pause button is two upright bars, the icon for hold on. It means pausing, taking a break, and stopping for a moment.
It marks freezing the action and catching your breath, the control for hit pause and wait.
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 Pause Button emoji. In everyday chat most people just call it the pause button 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.