Where does “kaomoji” come from?

kaomoji (English) comes from Japanese 顔文字, from Japanese 文字, from Middle Chinese 文字.

kaomoji (English): A text-based Japanese emoticon, distinct from a...

Definitions

  1. A text-based Japanese emoticon, distinct from a...

Ancestry of “kaomoji”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese顔文字an emoticon
2Japanese文字a letter, a character; script, writing system; a...
3Middle Chinese文字—
Every word from Middle Chinese 文字 →Every word from Japanese 文字 →Every word from Japanese 顔文字 →