Lenny Face
Build your own Lenny from eyes, mouth and arms, or grab a preset.
About Lenny
Lenny is ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) — a suggestive, eyebrow-raised text face that spread
from forums and streaming chat into general internet use around 2012. It carries a
knowing, faintly mischievous tone, which is why it tends to appear after a remark that
could be read two ways.
The face is assembled from parts rather than being a single character: two eyes, a mouth, a pair of brackets, and optional cheeks and arms. The builder above lets you mix them, so you can make variants that no preset list contains.
How Lenny is put together
The classic face uses ͡ (combining double inverted breve) to draw the
raised brows above each ° eye, and ͜ (combining double breve
below) to form the smirking mouth around ʖ. Combining characters attach to
the character before them, which is what lets a handful of code points stack into a face.
It also explains the occasional rendering glitch: apps that lay out text without proper combining-mark support will space the pieces apart, so Lenny looks stretched. The text is still correct — the receiving app's font handling is the problem.
Frequently asked questions
What does ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) mean?
Lenny is used to imply that something has a cheeky or suggestive second reading. It is the text equivalent of raising your eyebrows after a remark, and it is generally playful rather than serious.
How do I make my own Lenny face?
Use the builder above: choose eyes, a mouth, brackets, cheeks and arms, and the assembled face updates live. Press Randomise to shuffle every part at once, then copy the result.
Why does my Lenny face look stretched or broken?
The face relies on combining characters that sit on top of the ones before them. Some apps and fonts render those marks as separate spaced-out characters instead of stacking them, which pulls the face apart. The copied text is still correct.
Where did Lenny come from?
The face was posted on the Finnish image board Ylilauta around 2012 and spread from there through forums, Twitch chat and Reddit. The name comes from the username attached to early posts featuring it.