自打互联网和手机广泛普及以来，各种新鲜有趣的语言表达方式也随之大行其道。如果有人在网聊时发过来“:)”这样一个符号组合，估计没几个人会不知道它们代表的意思吧。随着即时通讯工具的不断升级，这些符号表情都会自动转换成了对应的卡通表情，不过，它们的名称一直都没有变，始终叫做emoticon。

An emoticon is a textual portrayal of a writer's mood or facial expression. They are often used to alert a responder to the tenor or temper of a statement, and can change and improve interpretation of plain text.

Emoticon（符号表情）是书写者情绪或者面部表情的文字表现方式。符号表情通常被用来提示对话的另一方注意某段话传递的语气或语调，由此可以改进并增强对普通文本的理解。

The word is a portmanteau of the English words emotion and icon. In web forums, instant messengers and online games, text emoticons are often automatically replaced with small corresponding images, which came to be called emoticons as well. Examples of widely known emoticons are the smiley face :) and the frowny face :(.

Emoticon这个词是emotion和icon两个词组合而成的。在网络论坛、即时信息工具以及网络游戏中，这些文本符号表情通常会被自动替换为对应的图像表情，不过它们还是被称为emoticon。代表笑脸的:) 和皱眉的:( 是最为人熟知的两个符号表情。