Phone users could soon be able to use a pregnant man as an emoji among a raft of other new additions set to be rolled out.
A draft list of new emojis released by the Unicode Consortium, designed by Emojipedia, also shows gender neutral options such as "pregnant person" and "person in crown" among its shortlist.
The new set of emojis were unveiled ahead of World Emoji Day on July 17.
Approval of the final version of the emojis won't take place until September as part of Emoji 14.0. The approved list will then go live some time late 2021 and into the first half of 2022.
Other emojis on the shortlist include, a face holding back tears, a melting face, some coral, an empty nest and a nest with eggs, a mirror ball, low battery, an x-ray, a heavy equals sign, a multicultural handshake and a saluting face.
Emojipedia, the reference website and a voting member of the Unicode Consortium, also gave some examples as to how people may use the emojis.
For instance the coral emoji can be used as an icon to discuss climate change, with the "Hand with Index Finger and Thumb Crossed" emoji used as the finger heart gesture popular with K-Pop fans or as a request to be paid money.
The introduction of the pregnant man and pregnant person emojis have been introduced to recognize that pregnancy is possible for some transgender men and non-binary people, and will will exist alongside the current pregnant woman emoji.
"The above additions will mean that nearly all emojis can have a default gender neutral option, with choice to use a woman or man where relevant," Emojipedia said on its website.
The multiracial handshake is expected to be included in the final list. The handshake emoji has only been the default yellow color on most major platforms.
"It is yet to be confirmed which emojis are in the final version of Emoji 14.0. The final version is likely to resemble this draft list, and no new emojis will be added at this stage," Emojipedia added. "But there's always a remote possibility of a change or removal ahead of September"
The Unicode standard approves icons for and sets to code for how they will look. Manufacturers such as Apple then design their own emojis based on the descriptions provided.
Earlier this year, Apple redesigned the "syringe" emoji to remove the two droplets of blood from it so people could use it to describe getting the COVID-19 vaccination.
Emojipedia said the syringe was previously most commonly used for blood donation, but has now "had new life" as a COVID-19 vaccine emoji.
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