What Does the 🌽 Corn Emoji Mean?

Last Updated: April 3, 2022

Scrolling through TikTok or Twitter and see a 🌽 (corn) emoji pop up? The 🌽 (corn) emoji has become a popular member of the modern emoji vernacular, but it can be a bit tricky to decode if your emoji vocab isn’t quite up-to-date. Not to worry—we’ve covered everything you need to know about this 🌽 (corny)-y emoji, so you can decide if you want to hop on the trend.

Section 1 of 4:

What does the 🌽 (corn) emoji mean?

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The 🌽 emoji is a slang term for pornography. On TikTok, words like “porn” and “pornography” are blacklisted, and no type of adult content is allowed on the platform. To get around these rules, users often caption their posts with the 🌽 emoji when discussing adult content.^{[1]
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- “What type of 🌽 is your favorite?”
- “When your fave’s new 🌽📽 drops”
- The 🌽 emoji might be used to represent adult content on other social media platforms, but it’s most well-known for its TikTok popularity.
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The 🌽 emoji can also represent male genitalia. The 🍆 emoji is definitely the most popular representation of a certain male body part, but it’s not the only one. The 🌽 emoji’s distinct shape also works well for sexting purposes—so, if your text conversation starts heading in a spicier direction, you can read between the lines when the 🌽 emoji pops up.^{[2]
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Section 2 of 4:

How to Use the 🌽 (Corn) Emoji

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Use the 🌽 emoji to discuss adult films and media on TikTok. Drop a 🌽 in the caption of your post to start a conversation with your fellow 🌽-y TikTok users. By using the 🌽 emoji, you can chat to your heart’s content without being flagged or banned by the platform. You could try making posts with captions like:
- “🌽 Stereotypes”
- “What they don’t actually tell you about 🌽📽”
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Surprise your partner with a spicy text. Tired of the same old 🍆 and 🍑 dominating your emoji vocabulary? Switch things by sending a 🌽 emoji instead. Don’t worry—your partner will still get the hint.

Section 3 of 4:

How to Reply to the 🌽 (Corn) Emoji

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Reply if you’re comfortable with the person who sent the emoji. Nowadays, emojis like the 🌽 and 🍆 rarely refer to their respective foods and almost always carry some sort of sexual tone. (Seriously, when’s the last time you saw 🍆 refer to an eggplant parmigiana?) If you get a 🌽-y message from your partner, feel free to send back a spicy message in return.
- “👀👀👀”
- “Excited for tonight 😏”
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Ignore and block the message if it makes you feel uncomfortable. You aren’t obligated to acknowledge or reply to any unwanted advances, including ones made with emojis. Leave any unsolicited 🌽 emojis on read, and feel free to block the number so they can’t contact you anymore.

Section 4 of 4:

Alternative Meanings

The 🌽 can be a derogatory label for political centrism in America. Around the American 2016 election, Twitter users started politically representing themselves with specific emojis. The 🌽 eventually joined the trend, becoming a negative term for political centrists.^{[3]
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Research source} If you see this emoji pop up in a political convo, the original poster is probably poking fun at a centrist politician or commentator.