Bear Kaomoji

Bear kaomoji are text faces drawn as bears, with a rounded head and a snout in the middle, like ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ. The bear, kuma (熊, くま) in Japanese, reads as friendly and harmless in text, which is why it turns up in greetings, hugs and gentle apologies. Tap any face below to copy it, or open the kaomoji picker for every mood on one page.

Bear Kaomoji to Copy and Paste

Every face is plain text, so a bear pastes the same way into any app.

How to Read a Bear Kaomoji

The bear is one of the cleverest builds in kaomoji. None of its parts were designed to be a face.

• ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ uses ʕ and ʔ, two letters from the International Phonetic Alphabet, as the round sides of the head and ears. The ᴥ in the middle, another phonetic letter, is the snout, with • dots for eyes.
• ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ adds っ, a small hiragana tsu, for arms held out for a hug.
• (・(ｪ)・) is an older bear style that uses ordinary brackets and a small katakana ｪ inside another pair for the snout.
• ᶘ ᵒᴥᵒᶅ stretches out with small curled letters as paws, a bear lounging on its side.
• ʕ-ᴥ-ʔ closes the eyes with two dashes: a bear fast asleep.

When to Use Bear Kaomoji

Bears fit any friendly message that should feel warm but not romantic: a hello, a thank you, a check-in, a sorry. The hugging bear is a good choice for comforting someone. A bear with a flower, ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ✿, makes a sweet sign-off.

More Kaomoji Categories

More animals live nearby: cat kaomoji, bunny kaomoji and dog kaomoji. For the bear’s favourite activity, see hug kaomoji.

FAQ

What is the bear kaomoji called?

It is usually just called the bear kaomoji or bear face, ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ. In Japanese a bear is kuma, so you may also see it called a kuma face. It is a favourite far beyond Japanese chat.

What characters make ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ?

Four kinds: ʕ and ʔ, which are phonetic letters for sounds made in the throat, two • bullet dots for eyes, and ᴥ, a small phonetic letter used here as the snout. Put together, they happen to look like a round bear head.

Why does the bear kaomoji show as boxes?

If you see empty boxes, your device is missing a font that covers the phonetic letters. The text itself is fine and will show correctly on most phones and computers. The older (・(ｪ)・) bear uses more common characters if you need a safer choice.