Two emojis get mixed up constantly because of their similar names: the fingers crossed emoji 🤞 and the hand with index finger and thumb crossed 🫰. They look nothing alike once you know what to look for, and their meanings are completely different.
🤞 Fingers Crossed
This emoji shows the index finger crossed over the middle finger, palm facing outward. It was added in Unicode 9.0 (2016) and universally represents hope, luck, and wishing someone well.
🫰 Hand with Index Finger and Thumb Crossed
This is a completely different gesture: the thumb and forefinger pressed together in a snapping-like pose, popularized on social media as a "money" or finger-heart-adjacent gesture. It was added in Unicode 13.0 (2020), four years after 🤞.
Side-by-Side Differences
| 🤞 | 🫰 | |
|---|---|---|
| Finger position | Index over middle | Thumb and forefinger touching |
| Core meaning | Hope, luck | Trend/money gesture |
| Unicode version | 9.0 (2016) | 13.0 (2020) |
Why the Confusion Happens
Both are hand gestures involving "crossed" or overlapping fingers, and both trend on social captions, so autocomplete and search results sometimes surface one when someone meant the other. If you're looking to wish someone luck, 🤞 is always the correct choice.
Quick Rule of Thumb
If your message is about hope or luck, use 🤞. If it's about a viral trend or money reference, you likely want 🫰.