noun
- written characters or symbols that represent entire words or concepts rather than individual sounds
Usage: linguistics; plural of logogram
Examples
- Chinese characters are examples of logograms that represent whole words.
- Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs included many logograms alongside phonetic symbols.
- The symbol & is a logogram representing the word ‘and’.
- Japanese writing combines logograms with phonetic characters.
- Mathematical symbols like + and = function as logograms.
- Road signs often use logograms that can be understood across language barriers.
- The study of logograms helps linguists understand how writing systems developed.