Tech article
The wilting rose emoji: what its rise and fall tells us about gen Alpha
Publisher description: It was the fastest-growing emoji in 2025 – but if you’re older than 16, it has probably passed you by. Now, just as twentysomethings are catching up, it’s over
The Guardian | Sep 15, 2026 | Lucy Knight
Automated excerpt
That the previously obscure wilting rose is now in the top 100 emojis is thanks to generation Alpha (those born between 2010 and 2024), who use it in place of the broken heart emoji (💔) to signify sadness, or ironically, to suggest mock-heartbreak. This use of the wilting rose (also known as wilting/wilted flower or dead rose) is an example of what the American linguist Adam Aleksic refers to as a “forced emoji” – when an emoji has a meaning consciously projected on to it, rather than being used intuitively.
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