Bear Kaomoji

How these faces work

1. Choose your bear: the classic neutral ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ, a scowl for mock-grumpy moments, or a sleepy ʕ-ᴥ-ʔ droop.
2. Tap Copy — the bracket ears and ᴥ snout are multi-character, so copy them as a unit.
3. Paste into chat; add a word after a space if you want the bear to "say" something.

About bear faces

Bear kaomoji are built around the ʕ ʔ bracket ears and the ᴥ snout character — a combination specific to bear faces. Sleepy variants droop the eyes to ʕ-ᴥ-ʔ; angry ones sharpen the features. All read as bear, not a generic cute human smile.

The ʕ character was not designed as a bear ear, but its curved bracket shape reads exactly as one. The ᴥ character was similarly repurposed to function as a distinctive animal snout. Their combination became one of the most copied kaomoji on English-language platforms, spreading from early Japanese image boards to Tumblr and Reddit in the late 2000s — a rare example of a kaomoji that gained more traction outside Japan than within it.

Frequently asked questions

• What is the most famous bear kaomoji?+

  ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ is the classic — the rounded bracket ears and centered ᴥ snout are the universal shorthand for bear in text culture. It has been in use since the early 2000s on Japanese internet forums.

• What does ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ mean?+

  The outer ʕ ʔ brackets form the rounded bear ears. The centered ᴥ character is a snout mark used specifically for dogs and bears in kaomoji. The dot eyes • on each side give the face its soft, neutral expression.

• How is bear different from bunny or dog?+

  Bunny faces use pointed above-head ear marks. Dog faces use floppy lines. Bear faces use ʕ ʔ side brackets and the ᴥ snout. The silhouette is different enough that they are never confused.

• Can bear kaomoji paste on all devices?+

  Yes. The ʕ ʔ brackets and ᴥ snout are standard Unicode supported on iOS, Android, and most chat apps. If a variant with rare characters shows a box, pick one of the simpler bears in the grid.