Hinting at something
Lenny
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Wink
( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)
The plain Lenny says you know what they mean; the wink says you mean it too. Both are best in a group chat that shares the joke.
Lenny Face
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) and every Lenny - winking, cool, sad, strong, hugging, flipping a table. Tap a face to copy it.
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What is the Lenny face?
Look closely and the face is stranger than it seems. The eyes are degree signs ° with a combining breve ͡ floating above each - the raised eyebrows. The nose is ʖ, a letter from the International Phonetic Alphabet, and the mouth is ͜, another combining mark that hangs below the space before it. Because half the face is made of marks that attach to other characters, the Lenny face renders slightly differently in every font, which is part of its charm and the reason it sometimes looks broken in a text field.
The variations swap one part at a time. ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°) winks, ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°) is skeptical, ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) is sad, (⌐■ ͜ʖ■) wears sunglasses and ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)>⌐■-■ is putting them on. Arms turn Lenny into a doer: ᕦ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕤ flexes, (づ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)づ hugs, and (ノ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ノ︵┻┻ flips a table. The inception ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°) is Lenny faces nested inside a Lenny face.
The board above opens on the Lenny Face category. Tap any face to copy it; the Shrug tab has ¯\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯ and the Smug & Evil tab has its cousins.
What to know about the Lenny face
- The eyebrows ͡ and mouth ͜ are combining marks - they attach to the character before them, so the face changes shape a little in every font.
- The nose ʖ is a letter from the phonetic alphabet (a glottal stop variant), not a punctuation mark.
- The face means a knowing, suggestive look - it is the text equivalent of a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
- It started on the Finnish imageboard Ylilauta in November 2012 and reached English forums through 4chan and Reddit within weeks.
Popular Lenny faces and what they mean
The Lenny variations people copy most, and what each one adds.
| Face | Name | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) | Lenny face | The knowing, suggestive look |
| ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°) | Winking Lenny | In on the joke |
| (⌐■ ͜ʖ■) | Cool Lenny | Sunglasses on |
| ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) | Sad Lenny | Suggestive, but sad about it |
| ᕦ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕤ | Strong Lenny | Flexing |
| ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°) | Lenny inception | Lenny faces all the way down |
Lenny face examples
Lenny doing things
Sunglasses
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)>⌐■-■
Table flip
(ノ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ノ︵┻┻
Putting on sunglasses is the punchline to a bad pun; the table flip is Lenny losing a game he was smug about.
Common Lenny face mistakes
- Using it in a professional channel - the face is suggestive by definition and reads as flirting or innuendo.
- Retyping it by hand - the eyebrows and mouth are combining marks that are not on any keyboard, so a typed version comes out as ( ° ʖ °) with no expression.
- Pasting it where combining marks are stripped - some username fields remove ͡ and ͜, leaving a face with no eyebrows and no mouth.
Lenny face FAQ
How do I type the Lenny face ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)?
You cannot type it directly - the eyebrows ͡ and the mouth ͜ are combining marks with no key. Copy it from the board above, or save it as a text shortcut on your phone.
What does the Lenny face mean?
A knowing, suggestive look - the text version of a raised eyebrow and a smirk. It is used to hint at innuendo or to say you see what someone did there.
Where did the Lenny face come from?
It was first posted on the Finnish imageboard Ylilauta in November 2012, spread to 4chan and Reddit within weeks, and by 2013 was one of the most copied text faces on the internet.
Why does the Lenny face look different or broken in some apps?
Half of it is combining marks that attach to the character before them, and fonts position those differently. An app that strips combining marks leaves ( ° ʖ °), a face with no eyebrows or mouth.
