Ideograms

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Symbols that represent ideas or concepts rather than sounds or words
2. characters used in writing systems to convey abstract meanings directly
3. graphical representations often found in ancient or modern scripts to express thoughts visually

Etymology: "Ideograms" is the plural of "ideogram", so it is the plural form of a compound built from "ideo-" and "-gram". The "-gram" element comes from Greek "gramma", meaning something written or a letter, and it appears in many modern words for drawn or written things, such as telegram and diagram. The first element, "ideo-", comes from Greek "idea", meaning form, look, or idea, the same root that gives English words like idea and ideal. Put together, "ideogram" describes a symbol whose written shape stands for an idea or thing directly, rather than for a spoken sound. Chinese characters such as the one for "mountain" are often given as examples, though the term is applied more broadly to pictographic and symbolic signs in many writing systems. The word is a modern coinage built from classical Greek parts, so it describes writing systems rather than being an ancient term used by the people who devised those systems.

Synonyms: symbols, pictograms