What the ghost emoji means
The ghost 👻 (Unicode name GHOST) is a white, sheet-like spirit drawn as a friendly cartoon on most platforms. It is playful rather than scary, which is why people use it for Halloween posts, silly pranks and "boo!" messages. It joined Unicode in version 6.0 in 2010, so practically every phone and computer can show it today.
In dating slang, 👻 also stands for ghosting: suddenly cutting off contact and ignoring someone's messages. "I got ghosted 👻" means the other person disappeared without a word. The ghost is also linked to Snapchat, whose logo is a white ghost.
Text ghosts and look-alikes
There is no flat, text-style ghost in Unicode, so text artists borrow shapes. The Canadian Syllabics letter ᗣ looks like the wavy-bottomed ghosts of classic arcade games, and ᗧ makes the hungry chomper that chases them (ᗧ···ᗣ). Kaomoji like 〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜 imitate a floating spirit with dangling arms.
Other characters set a ghostly mood: the dotted line face 🫥 for feeling invisible, the face in clouds 😶🌫️, fog 🌫︎, a candle 🕯︎ and a headstone 🪦. For more spooky picks, see Halloween symbols, skull symbols and the kaomoji collection.
How to type the ghost emoji
On iPhone or Android, open the emoji keyboard and search for "ghost". On Windows, press Windows + . and type ghost; on a Mac, press Control + Command + Space. In Word or Google Docs you can paste it straight from this page.
Text ghosts like ᗣ copy the same way. If you see an empty box after pasting, the font in that app does not include Canadian Syllabics, so try another font or use 👻 instead. For a cute bio, combine 👻 with small capitals from the small text generator, like ʙᴏᴏ 👻.