kaomoji

noun

Etymology: From Japanese 顔(かお)文(も)字(じ) (kaomoji), from 顔(かお) (kao, “face”) + 文(も)字(じ) (moji, “letter, character”).

1. A text-based Japanese emoticon, distinct from a Western emoticon in that it is not rotated sideways, and often includes a larger variety of characters (originally from Shift JIS, now including Unicode).

   “While kaomoji and emoji express contexts or moods that cannot be conveyed through textual information alone, they are also used to compensate for the lack of personalization in electronic text that otherwise exists in hand-written form.”

   “For example, the typical emoticon for smile, :-), is the kaomoji ^--^.”