The Clap Emoji is an ideogram that generally depicts two hands clapping together, commonly used online to mimic the “ratchet clap.” As it is known, the practice of clapping two hands right between words is mainly used to add emphasis condescendingly and to foreground the message. The two hands clapping Emoji, when used multiple times, can also be used as a round of applause. In 2010, the Clapping Hands or the Clap Emoji was officially approved as part of Unicode 6.0 right under the name of “Clapping Hands Sign.” Later, in 2015, the Clap Emoji was added to Emoji 1.0, and the codepoints (or so-called Unicode Character) for the Clapping Hands Sign or the Clap Emoji “👏” is – (U+1F44F).
You can directly copy and paste the Clap Emoji, which is identified as 👏, right into your message, text box output, or email to add more highlights and sense of your text.
Besides, the Clap Emoji is also commonly known as a representation of the following emotions, such as:
- 👏 Applause
- 👏 Clapping
- 👏 Clap
- 👏 Golf Clap
- 👏 Round Of Applause
- 👏 Clapping Hands (Apple name)
- 👏 Clapping Hands Sign (Unicode name).
Also, a pair of hands together is defined as a sign of indicating sound, which is a gesture of applause, which creates the sound of praise that can also mean to approve, agree, or celebrate something.
There are further versions of the Clap Emoji, which come into different skin colors as well. For instance, you can copy and paste any of the following signs, such as:
- 👏 Clapping Hands (standard Clap Emoji);
- 👏🏻 Clapping Hands with Light Skin Tone;
- 👏🏼 Clapping Hands with Medium-Light Skin Tone;
- 👏🏽 Clapping Hands with Medium Skin Tone;
- 👏🏾 Clapping Hands with Medium-Dark Skin Tone;
- 👏🏿 Clapping Hands with Dark Skin Tone.
Note – The Clap Emoji or so-called Clapping Hands Emoji with different Skin (listed above) was first added to Emoji 2.0, right in 2015.
The origin of the Clap Emoji
Initially, in 2010, the Emoji of the clapping hands was added to the official Unicode emoji set and called the Clap Emoji. Later, on May 3, 2014, one of the users of the Urban Dictionary, namely Alexandria Princess, submitted an entry for the “ratchet clap,” that was to define the expression such as an applauding gesture which was used by “ratchet” people to “emphasize a point or statement.”
The spread of the Clap Emoji
Concerning the spread of the so popular Clap Emoji, as it is known later, on July 28, 2015, the Clap Cmoji was first listed in a Complex article under the caption of “Emojis That Have a Second Meaning on #RapTwitter.” In this article, it was defined that the Clap Emoji noted that its ideogram is mainly used for extra emphasis when one wants to make a point, declaration, or even a statement.” Later on that year, on September 20, one of the Tumblr users, namely cat-pun, published a post in which the Clap emoji or so-called Clapping Emoji was used for emphasis when questioning why people reblog their posts. Surprisingly, during the ten months, that post obtained more than 51,000 notes.
Later, on February 26, 2016, the Disney entertainment blog “Oh My Disney” published a listicle under the caption of “10 Disney Quotes That Work Perfectly With the Handclap Emoji.” Then on March 17, “The Night Show” aired a segment right on “Black Lady Sign Language,” in which one of the comedians, namely Robin Thede, described how black women double clapped on syllables for emphasis. After that, on April 6, an article about the use of the Clap Emoji for adding focus to messages, speech, and statements was published and made online by “Slate.” Later, on July 31, a post was submitted by Redditor MPixels. The question was raised about the Clap Emoji to “/r/OutOfTheLoop,” where many users cited its usage for foreground and emphasis.
When and how to use the Clap Emoji Sign
There are various statements on how to use the Clap Emoji correctly and in a meaningful way to avoid misunderstandings from the audience. Some people use the so-called clapping-between-words pattern, which is commonly called the “ratchet clap. ” Those people who use the ratchet clap, are statistically more likely to end their tweet along with the Clap Emoji than with a different word or even a non-clap Emoji. What does that mean? Well, it means the most commonly used pattern in the history of the Clap Emoji creation is to use “👏 a 👏 clap 👏 after 👏 every 👏 word, 👏 including 👏 the 👏 last. 👏” – like shown in this example. As you can see, even in that sentence, the Clap Emoji was used right after each word.
Some raised questions and looked for answers on whether this clapping-between-words pattern makes any sense or not. The answer is “Yes,” this creates an intuitive sense to most of the people. As it is known, this pattern is mimicking someone who is clapping on each word. People cannot put the Clap Emoji on top of every word to indicate that they are happening simultaneously, putting the Clap Emoji right after every word makes a good intuitive sense.
Here are some examples of the usage of the Clap Emoji, such as:
- Let’s go 👏
- Let’s get some 👏
- Let’s vote👏
- Get up now👏
- Well done 👏
- It is incredible 👏 etc.
The Clapping Hands sign or so-called Clap Emoji is a special symbol that may be used on various platforms, such as tablets, computers, laptops, mobile devices, and smartphones. In order to use the Clap Emoji, your electronic device needs to support this exact Emoji to enable you to use it freely. Otherwise, the Clap Emoji may not appear on your keyboard.
On many devices, you can also use the shortcode – :clap: in order to add the clapping hands’ sign or the Clap Emoji to your text and messages. Note that different devices will have a bit different versions of the clapping hands’ Emoji. The same Clap Emoji can appear in a different color and shape when displayed on iOS, Android, and other platforms.
For instance, if you want to use the Clap Emoji on social media networking sites like Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, you can directly copy the emoji character – 👏. That is a unique character, not an image or meme that it can be freely copy-pasted anywhere.