Red Heart

The most popular of all the heart emojis, the red heart signifies love, as well as passion and romance, making it the perfect symbol of your fervent feelings. It's anything but casual, which means you don't want to send it to acquaintances, co-workers or after a first date, no matter how well it went. Keep it for communications with your inner circle, including your S.O., as well as close friends and family, and, of course, those Valentine's Day Instagram posts.

Heart on Fire

There's no doubt about it. The flaming heart emoji is lit. (Sorry, we just had to do it.) Seriously sexy, and all about the kind of passion so fiery it burns, this one can reference a smoking hot relationship, or be posted along with🔥on an en fuego selfie or even as a comment on your BFF's latest spicy Insta pic. It's not the kind of thing you want to send to a family member or (eek) your boss.

Broken Heart

So, the broken heart emoji should be as straightforward as it gets, right? Wrong. While plenty of people use it to convey real sorrow over anything from a bad breakup to the loss of a loved one, there are a wealth of others who bust it out only ironically (as in "I can't believe my market is out of low-fat oak milk 💔💔💔"). Honestly, we kind of love that snarky vibe.

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Heart Exclamation Point

If you've got good news—be it scoring Taylor Swift tix, a job promotion, or a new puppy—this is the emoji for you. A little goofy (in a good way❣) and plenty giddy, the heart exclamation point can also be dropped into exchanges when you're complimenting someone or firming up plans to meet. It's all about happy excitement, so stow it if you're discussing something serious.

Mending Heart

Say your heart's a little bruised and battered, probably from a busted romance, though maybe from another form of loss—this emoji announces that you're in the process of healing. It can also denote a more general personal growth phase, or that you're feeling a bit guarded. You can even send it to a loved one to let them know that you sympathize if they're hurting.

Sparkle Heart

It's all good whenever you see, or share, this glimmering pink heart emoji that means you're excited about an event or just want to show extra affection for a friend or family member. Use it when you're captioning photos of weddings, vacays, or spa days, or in texts to your squad. Sometimes all that glitters really is gold!

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Two Hearts

Flirty, festive, and super fun, this emoji has a playful, frisky spirit you're gonna wanna call on when sliding into a crush's DMs, texting your new fella, or just commenting on your bestie's socials. One of the most popular of all the heart emojis, it may be a little lightweight for use when you and your boo have gotten hot and heavy. On the other hand, stay away from it if you're friendzoning someone, lest you send the dreaded mixed signals.

Heart With Arrow

Thanks to its association with the Roman god Cupid, who shot mortals with arrows to make them fall in love, a heart pierced in such a way symbolizes romantic devotion. Use it with Valentine's Day posts or texts, as well as around other loved-up, swoony events such as anniversaries, weddings, and engagements. Under no circumstances should you send it to a platonic friend, unless you want to really confuse them.

Heart With Ribbon

There's no keeping it casual with this emoji. You're literally gifting them your heart, wrapped up nice and neat with a snazzy bow. Next step is pretty much a ring and a honeymoon in Aruba. Kidding...but not really.

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Revolving Hearts

This is another very specific heart emoji, though you might not get the gist of it at first glance. Send it to your sweetie when you two are having a heart-to-heart, or you're accepting an apology (or apologizing). The double, orbiting hearts signal that you're simpatico and communicating in a meaningful and profound way.

Beating Heart

Similar to the revolving hearts, the beating heart emoji is good for giving or accepting an apology, or when you and your honey are just on the same wavelength. Send it when you've had a great chat, a killer date, or they've made your pulse race. Not suitable for platonic friends.

Growing Heart

Is your love for someone (or something) growing by leaps and bounds, or even slowly but steadily? Shout it from the rooftops, or at least social media, with this endearing expanding pink heart.

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Purple Heart

While the pretty, pleasing purple heart might at first glance seem to be generic enough to employ in any context, it turns out that it's actually the most confused (and confusing) of all the heart emojis. Not only can it reference the Purple Heart medal awarded to those heroes killed or wounded while serving our country, it's also used by fans of the K-pop boy band BTS. And thanks to a song called “Purple Emoji” by Ty Dolla $ign, it has come to mean, well, a serious case of hot pants. Go home, purple heart emoji. You're drunk.

Green Heart

Whether you're celebrating St. Pat's, Earth Day, spring, or just championing the environment in general or gardening specifically, you're gonna wanna go green. Don't forget to toss in a few fun extra emojis for added oomph—in particular, there are a boatload of adorbs nature-themed ones available, like: 🌲🌷🌿🍄🌼

Blue Heart

Used to denote love for products and brands, as well as in patriotic or political posts, blue is considered a neutral heart emoji color. Use it at will with no fear of sending the wrong message, because there isn't really much of a message to it.

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Light Blue Heart

There's a new heart emoji on the block (since 2022), and its light blue hue, according to Emojipedia, epitomizes "love, friendship, feelings of warmth, and the color blue." Cheerful, if not downright optimistic, it lacks the subtle bro aura of its deeper-colored cousin, and nicely conveys simple, good-natured affection. It's the golden retriever of the emoji world.

Orange Heart

Unless you're posting or texting this baby with a bunch of cute Halloween or autumnal-themed emojis 🎃💀🍂🍁 or pics, you might not ever need it. You're definitely not going to want to use it in any kind of romantic way, because an orange heart (as opposed to, helllloooo, a red heart) is just so mealy-mouthed and meh.

Yellow Heart

One of the few heart emojis with a totally clear-cut meaning, this yellow and mellow fellow stands for platonic love. Send it to close friends, folks you'd like to get to know better, social media buddies, even family members—anyone, really, but a romantic interest. If you do, you'll probably find you just friendzoned yourself.

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Black Heart

Sure, the simple but striking black heart is a no-brainer for your Spooky Season Instas, but its gothy goodness can also communicate dark humor, deep sadness, or even grief. In other words, this isn't the emoji you want to include when you're aiming for cheery. Of course, you can always go for style over substance and just use a few to caption those arty black-and-white snaps you post every now and then.

White Heart

While the basic white heart offers an undisputable bridal vibe ideal for an Instagram wedding post, due to its angel energy this emoji has especially caught on as a way of expressing sympathy to anyone mourning a loss. When possible, just remember to follow up with a visit, call, or even a handwritten note, which will all mean more to the bereaved than a text or message.

Jill Gleeson is a travel journalist and memoirist based in the Appalachian Mountains of western Pennsylvania who has written for websites and publications including Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Country Living, Washingtonian, Gothamist, Canadian Traveller, and EDGE Media Network. Jill is the travel editor for Enchanted Living. Learn more about her journey at gleesonreboots.com.

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