What is an ideograph?

An ideograph is a graphic symbol that represents an idea instead of a word, a single morpheme, or a lexical item. In a phonetic system, the symbol represents the sounds that form its name. Chinese characters are often referred to as ideographs.

• Concept module: ideograph
• In overview module: Glossary (Literacy): I
• In modular book: Glossary of literacy terms
• In document collection: Reference materials
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 26 October 1995

© 1999 SIL International