Gender-neutral figures, mythical creature among newly suggested emojis

Smartphone users may soon see new gender-neutral figures, a citrus fruit and a mythical creature in their emoji list.

Unicode, the nonprofit behind emoji creations, drafted “four new gender-neutral family emojis intended to be represented via silhouettes” possibly for its 15.1 update, reports Emojipedia, a popular blog that keeps up with the modern-day hieroglyphics.

A mythical phoenix, a slice of lime, a mushroom and a broken chain, as well as a disembodied head shaking horizontally and another one shaking vertically, are other additions expected from the new series, up for approval by Unicode in September.

Mock-ups of the new icons have been shared by Joshua Jones, Emojipedia’s head of emoji design, to give typers a taste of what could be appearing soon on their keyboards.

“Based on recent years, the final version is likely to mirror this draft list,” the blog noted.

The new batch will also have a major focus on motion-directed figures — “all versions of pre-existing people emojis.

“The Emoji 15.1 candidate list also contains directional versions of six different types of person emojis (for a total of 108 new emojis when you include skin tone modifier and gender variants),” according to Emojipedia.

“Additionally,” the blog shares, “Apple and other vendors may opt for unique designs for each of the new direction-specifying people emojis, instead of simply inverting their existing designs.”

Emojis have recently caused a stir online, as some have sparked confusion, while others have had their meanings hotly debated.

Gen Z has notoriously gone to war in an effort to cancel the (apparently boomer-relegated) thumbs up emoji as well.