образовано от слов emotion + icon смотри smiley
имя существительное [информатика и компьютерные технологии]; от emotion + icon эмотикон, смайлик (последовательность из вспомогательных символов и знаков препинания, обозначающая эмоции пишущего: положительные или отрицательные; используется в коротких мобильных сообщениях, электронной переписке)
noun Etymology: emotion + icon a group of keyboard characters (as :-)) that typically represents a facial expression or suggests an attitude or emotion and that is used especially in computerized communications (as e-mail)
/ee-moh'ti-kon/ (Or "smiley") An ASCII glyph used to indicate an emotional state in text-only electronic messaging systems such as chat, electronic mail, SMS or news. Although originally intended mostly as jokes, emoticons are widely recognised if not expected; the lack of verbal and visual cues can otherwise cause non-serious comments to be misinterpreted, resulting in offence, arguments and flame wars. As with exclamation marks, overuse of the smiley is a mark of loserhood! More than one per paragraph is a fairly sure sign that you've gone over the line.