pictograph
Ancient drawn symbol
A pictograph is a picture or symbol representing a word, idea, or thing—the earliest form of writing before alphabetic systems developed.
Cave paintings and Egyptian hieroglyphics are pictographs.
The term also applies to modern statistical charts using repeated symbols to represent quantities: The pictograph showed car icons, each representing 1,000 vehicles sold.
Relating to the pharaohs' land
- Rosetta StoneDecree in three scripts
- cartoucheOval framing royal hieroglyphs
- pharaohAncient Egyptian ruler
- papyrusAncient plant-derived writing material
scribe · demotic · hieratic · Anubis · scarab · ankh · cuneiform · Sumerian
Carved image on stone
- rock artImages on natural stone
- cave paintingPrehistoric art on stone
- LascauxPaleolithic painted cavern
- AltamiraSpanish cave with paintings
ochre · handprint · mammoth · auroch · hunting scene · charcoal drawing · neolithic · paleolithic
Visual form of character
- ideographSymbol representing meaning directly
- logographSymbol for complete word
- iconPictorial screen symbol
- signMark conveying information
character · emblem · motif · representation · figure · mark · notation · rebus
Navigating through physical spaces
- airport signTerminal navigation display
- warning signIndicator of potential danger
- traffic signRoadside regulatory marker
- public informationAccessible-to-all data
no smoking · exit sign · pedestrian · universal design · wordless · international · stick figure · arrow
Data shown visually
- infographicVisual data presentation
- data visualizationGraphical representation of information
- dashboardVehicle control panel
- comparisonAssessment of similarities
Egyptian
Relating to the pharaohs' land
- Rosetta StoneDecree in three scripts
- cartoucheOval framing royal hieroglyphs
- pharaohAncient Egyptian ruler
papyrus · scribe · demotic · hieratic · Anubis · scarab · ankh · cuneiform · Sumerian · logogram
petroglyph
Carved image on stone
- rock artImages on natural stone
- cave paintingPrehistoric art on stone
- LascauxPaleolithic painted cavern
Altamira · ochre · handprint · mammoth · auroch · hunting scene · charcoal drawing · neolithic · paleolithic · anthropology
glyph
Visual form of character
- ideographSymbol representing meaning directly
- logographSymbol for complete word
- iconPictorial screen symbol
sign · character · emblem · motif · representation · figure · mark · notation · rebus · semiotics
wayfinding
Navigating through physical spaces
- airport signTerminal navigation display
- warning signIndicator of potential danger
- traffic signRoadside regulatory marker
public information · no smoking · exit sign · pedestrian · universal design · wordless · international · stick figure · arrow
chart
Data shown visually
- infographicVisual data presentation
- data visualizationGraphical representation of information
- dashboardVehicle control panel
comparison · quantity · proportion · demographic · annual report
- picturesphoto, image, pic, snapshot, portrait
- ancient communicationsmoke signal, hieroglyphs, carrier pigeon, pictograms, courier
- Learning Visualsdiagram, chart, infographic, illustration, poster
- Southwestmesa, Monument Valley, Arizona, New Mexico, Grand Canyon
- statisticsmean, median, mode, variance, standard deviation
- SumerSumerians, cuneiform, Ur, Gilgamesh, ziggurat
pictographphonetic alphabet
Letter-to-word correspondence system
alphabet · phonogram · syllabary · phonetic spelling · cuneiform
pictographletter
Written symbol or message
numeral · mathematical notation · punctuation mark · diacritic