Speak-no-evil monkey emoji meaning

The speak-no-evil monkey emoji shows a small, brown monkey with its hands covering its mouth. This image represents the idea of staying silent, not speaking about something, or keeping a secret. It is inspired by the "Three Wise Monkeys," a cultural symbol that promotes the idea of avoiding evil through seeing no evil, hearing no evil, and speaking no evil. This specific monkey focuses on the "speak no evil" part, encouraging discretion or careful speech. People often use this emoji to show surprise, speechlessness, or a playful way of saying, "I will not talk about this." It is also used to avoid discussing sensitive topics or to emphasize the importance of remaining silent in certain situations.

The speak-no-evil monkey emoji was approved in Unicode 6.0 and added in Emoji 1.0, see related proposal L2/09026