noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A symbol used solely for meaning, as when logographic Chinese symbols are used to represent the meaning of native Japanese words.

   ""the majority of Jurchen signs, which included both semantograms and phonograms, were inventions.""

Synonyms

All synonyms

ideographideographsemantographsemantograph

Example

More examples

""the majority of Jurchen signs, which included both semantograms and phonograms, were inventions.""

Etymology

From semanto- + -gram, thus literally "meaning-drawing."

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.