Announcing Unicode Standard Version 8.0
Unicode is a character encoding system that assigns each character a unique number, independent of system, program, and language. Earlier encoding systems mainly had two problems: they covered too few characters and were often incompatible with each other.
The new Unicode Version 8.0 adds a total of 7,716 new characters and six new scripts. This includes 41 new emoji symbols and additional characters for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. New letters were also added to existing scripts to support various African languages.
The new emoji symbols
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Faces and hands | NERD FACE, FACE WITH ROLLING EYES, ROBOT FACE |
| Food | HOT DOG, TACO, CHEESE WEDGE, POPCORN |
| Sports | CRICKET BAT AND BALL, VOLLEYBALL, BOW AND ARROW |
| Animals | UNICORN FACE, LION FACE, CRAB, SCORPION |
| Religion | MOSQUE, SYNAGOGUE, PRAYER BEADS |
A detailed list of all emoji symbols with visual previews and corresponding Unicode values is available on the Unicode Consortium website.
Computers and mobile phones generally require operating system updates to display new symbols, which may take some time. After these updates, users can view and use the new symbols.
Some changes in Version 8.0 may require updates to existing Unicode implementations. Further information is available in the official documentation.
Source: Unicode Consortium