Pictogram

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A pictogram or pictograph is a symbol which represents an object or a concept by illustration. Pictography is a form of writing whereby ideas are transmitted through drawing. It is the basis of cuneiform and hieroglyphs.

Related Topics:
Writing - Idea - Drawing - Cuneiform - Hieroglyph

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Early written symbols were based on pictograms, pictures which resemble what they signify, and ideograms, pictures which represent words; it is commonly believed that pictograms appeared before ideograms. They were used by various ancient cultures in the Alps, Asia, Egypt and the Mediterranean around 5000 BC and are still in use as in some non-literate cultures in Africa, The Americas, and Oceania.

Related Topics:
Symbol - Ideogram - Culture - Alps - Asia - Egypt - Mediterranean - 5000 BC - Africa - The Americas - Oceania

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Though written Chinese is often thought of consisting of pictograms, less than 1% of all characters ever created have their direct origins in pictograms. The letters of the Roman alphabet, however, do have their origins in pictograms. For example, the letter A represented the head of an ox, and if it is turned upside down, a bovine head with horns can be seen.

Related Topics:
Chinese - Characters - Roman alphabet

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Pictograms remain in common use today, serving as signs or instructions. Because of their graphical nature and fairly realistical style, they are widely used to indicate public toilets, or places such as airports and train stations. However, even these symbols are highly culture-specific. For example, in some cultures men commonly wear dress-like clothing, so even restroom signage is not universal. Pictographic writing as a modernist poetic technique is credited to Ezra Pound though French surrealists accurately credit the Pacific Northwest American Indians of Alaska who introduced writing, via totem poles, to North America (Reed 2003,p.XIX).

Related Topics:
Signs - Instructions - Toilet - Airport - Train station - Ezra Pound - Totem pole

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A standard set of pictograms was defined in the international standard ISO 7001: Public Information Symbols. Another common set of pictograms are the laundry symbols used on clothing tags and chemical hazard labels.

Related Topics:
Standard - ISO - Laundry symbols - Chemical hazard label

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In countries or regions where two or more languages are used, the typical traffic sign is very often a symbol with no writing on it. This is the case for much of Europe and several parts of Canada. Many of these signs, however, offer an abstract symbol instead of a picture, and they cannot be considered true pictograms.

Related Topics:
Traffic sign - Europe - Canada

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The term "pictograph" can also be used to mean

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• rock painting as distinguished from petroglyphs
• a chart which represents numeric data by pictures
 
Pictogram: See also ►