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{{Short description|Ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object}}
{{refimprove|date=November 2006}} {{more citations needed|date=November 2006}}
{{Writing systems sidebar}}
⚫ ]
⚫ A '''pictogram''', also called a '''pictogramme''', '''pictograph''', or simply ''picto''<ref>Gove, Philip Babcock. (1993). Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged. Merriam-Webster Inc. ISBN 0-87779-201-1.</ref>, and also an ']', is an ] that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to a considerable extent pictorial in appearance.


⚫ A '''pictogram''' (also '''pictogramme''', '''pictograph''', or simply '''picto'''<ref>Gove, Philip Babcock. (1993). ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged''. Merriam-Webster Inc. {{ISBN|0-87779-201-1}}.</ref>) is a graphical ] that conveys meaning through its visual resemblance to a physical object. Pictograms are used in systems of writing and visual communication. A pictography is a ]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goody|first=Jack|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/14242868|title=The interface between the written and the oral|date=1987|isbn=0-521-33268-0|location=Cambridge|page=4|oclc=14242868}}</ref> which uses pictograms. Some pictograms, such as ], may be elements of ].
Pictography is a form of ] which uses representational, pictorial ]s, similarly to ] and, to some extent, ], which also uses drawings as phonetic letters or ] rhymes. In certain modern use, pictograms participate to a ] (e.g. ]).

In the field of ], the term "pictograph" has a different definition, and specifically refers to art painted on rock surfaces. Pictographs are contrasted with ]s, which are carved or incised.


==Historical== ==Historical==
] pictographs on cliff-face at Agawa Rock, ]]] ] pictographs on cliff-face at Agawa Rock, ] of a boat and ], an animal with horns, painted with red ochre ]]


Early written ] were based on pictographs (pictures which resemble what they signify) and ] (symbols which represent ideas). Ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, and Chinese civilizations began to use such symbols over, developing them into ]. Pictographs are still in use as the main medium of written communication in some non-literate cultures in ], The ], and ]. Pictographs are often used as simple, pictorial, representational symbols by most contemporary cultures. Early written symbols were based on pictograms (pictures which resemble what they signify) and ] (symbols which represent ideas). Ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, and Chinese civilizations began to adapt such symbols to represent concepts, developing them into ]. Pictograms are still in use as the main medium of written communication in some non-literate cultures in Africa, the Americas, and Oceania.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}} Pictograms are often used as simple, pictorial, representational symbols by most contemporary cultures.


].<ref>{{cite web|title=Signatures from the Past|url=https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1705a/|website=ESO.org|publisher=]|access-date=30 January 2017|date=30 January 2017}}</ref>]]
Pictographs can be considered an art form, or can be considered a written language and are designated as such in ], ], Ancient ] and ]. One example of many is the ], part of the ].
⚫ In 2011, UNESCO World Heritage adds to its list a new site "] Complexes of the Mongolian Altai, Mongolia"<ref>http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1382</ref> to celebrate the importance of the pictograms engraved in rocks.


Pictograms can be considered an art form, or can be considered a written language and are designated as such in ], ], Ancient ] and ].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pharo|first=Lars Kirkhusmo|url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/25344|title=Studies in Multilingualism, Lingua Franca and Lingua Sacra|publisher=Edition Open Access Max Planck Institute for the History of Science|year=2018|isbn=9783945561133|editor-last=Braarvig|editor-first=Jens|pages=488|chapter=Multilingualism and Lingua Francae of Indigenous Civilizations of America|hdl=20.500.12657/25344 |editor-last2=Geller|editor-first2=Markham J.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ambrosino|first=Gordon|date=2018-10-20|title=Painted origins: inscribed landscape histories in the Fortaleza pictograph style during the Andean, late pre-Hispanic period|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00438243.2019.1612272|journal=World Archaeology|language=en|volume=50|issue=5|pages=804–819|doi=10.1080/00438243.2019.1612272|s2cid=198820112|issn=0043-8243}}</ref> One example of many is the ], part of the ].
⚫ Some scientists in the field of neuropsychiatry and neuropsychology, such as Prof. Dr. ], are studying the symbolic meaning of indigenous pictograms and petroglyphs,<ref>http://unesdoc.UNESCO.org/images/0006/000678/067843F.pdf</ref> aiming to create new ways of communication between native people and modern scientists to safeguard and valorize their cultural diversity. <ref>http://www.pisad.bio.br/artigos/amazonupclose_outoftheforest.pdf</ref>
⚫ In 2011, UNESCO's World Heritage List added "] Complexes of the Mongolian Altai, Mongolia"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1382|title=Petroglyphic Complexes of the Mongolian Altai|publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|website=WHC.UNESCO.org|date=2011}}</ref> to celebrate the importance of the pictograms engraved in rocks.

⚫ Some scientists in the field of neuropsychiatry and neuropsychology, such as ], are studying the symbolic meaning of indigenous pictographs and petroglyphs,<ref>{{cite book|url=http://unesdoc.UNESCO.org/images/0006/000678/067843F.pdf|id=ED-85/WS/65|title=Apprentissage de la langue maternelle écrite: étude sur des populations "les moins favorisées" dans une approche interdisciplinaire|first=Mario Christian|last=Meyer|date=December 1985}}</ref> aiming to create new ways of communication between native people and modern scientists to safeguard and valorize their cultural diversity.<ref>{{cite book|title=Amazon Up Close|editor-first=Pamela|editor-last=Bloom|chapter-url=http://www.pisad.bio.br/artigos/amazonupclose_outoftheforest.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317084754/http://www.pisad.bio.br/artigos/amazonupclose_outoftheforest.pdf|archive-date=2012-03-17|chapter=Out Of The Forest & Into The Lab: Amerindian Initiation Into Sacred Science|first=Mario Christian|last=Meyer}}</ref>


== Modern uses == == Modern uses ==
An early modern example of the extensive use of pictographs may be seen in the map in the London suburban timetables of the London and North Eastern Railway, 1936-1947, designed by ], in which a variety of pictographs was used to indicate facilities available at or near each station. Pictographs remain in common use today, serving as pictorial, representational ]s, instructions, or statistical diagrams. Because of their graphical nature and fairly realistic style, they are widely used to indicate public toilets, or places such as airports and train stations. An early modern example of the extensive use of pictograms may be seen in the map in the London suburban timetables of the London and North Eastern Railway, 1936–1947, designed by ], in which a variety of pictograms was used to indicate facilities available at or near each station. Pictograms remain in common use today, serving as pictorial, representational signs, instructions, or statistical diagrams. Because of their graphical nature and fairly realistic style, they are widely used to indicate public toilets, or places such as airports and train stations. Because they are a concise way to communicate a concept to people who speak many different languages, pictograms have also been used extensively at the ] since the ] in Tokyo featured designs by Masaru Katsumi. Later Olympic pictograms have been redesigned for each set of games.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pages.uncc.edu/visualrhetoric/projects/illustration-video/olympic-pictograms/|work=Visual Rhetoric|title=Olympic Pictograms|first1=C. Justin|last1=Hall|first2=Zachary|last2=Allen}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://mediamadegreat.com/olympic-pictograms/|title=Olympic Pictograms: Design through History|work=MediaMadeGreat.com|date=16 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://1stmuse.com/pictograms/|title=Olympic Games Pictograms|website=1stMuse.com|editor-first=John Jan|editor-last=Popovic}}</ref>


Pictographic writing as a modernist poetic technique is credited to ], though French ] accurately credit the ] ] of ] who introduced writing, via ]s, to ].<ref>Reed 2003, p. xix</ref> Pictographic writing as a modernist poetic technique is credited to ], though ] ] credit the ] ] of ] who introduced writing, via ]s, to ].<ref>Reed 2003, p. xix</ref>


Contemporary artist ] created , a universal language made up of pictograms collected from around the world. A Book from the Ground chat program has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally. Contemporary artist ] created Book from the Ground, a universal language made up of pictograms collected from around the world. A Book from the Ground chat program has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally.


==In mathematics==
Pictograms are used in many areas of modern life for commodity purposes, often as a ] (see following section).
] by class and age/gender]]

In statistics, pictograms are charts in which icons represent numbers to make it more interesting and easier to understand. A key is often included to indicate what each icon represents. All icons must be of the same size, but a fraction of an icon can be used to show the respective fraction of that amount.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/factsheet/ma37grap-e3-f-pictograms|title=Understanding pictograms|website=] — Skillswise|access-date=2014-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131229012040/http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/factsheet/ma37grap-e3-f-pictograms|archive-date=2013-12-29}}</ref>

For example, the following table:
{| class="wikitable"
! Day !! Letters sent
|-
| Monday || 10
|-
| Tuesday || 17
|-
| Wednesday || 29
|-
| Thursday || 41
|-
| Friday || 18
⚫ |}
can be graphed as follows:
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+
! Day !! Letters sent
|-
| Monday || ]
|-
| Tuesday || ]&nbsp;]
|-
| Wednesday || ]&nbsp;]&nbsp;]
|-
| Thursday || ]&nbsp;]&nbsp;]&nbsp;]
|-
| Friday || ]&nbsp;]
|}
Key: ] = 10 letters

As the values are rounded to the nearest 5 letters, the second icon on Tuesday is the left half of the original.


==Standardization== ==Standardization==
Pictographs can often transcend languages in that they can communicate to speakers of a number of tongues and language families equally effectively, even if the languages and cultures are completely different. This is why ] and similar pictographic material are often applied as global standards expected to be understood by nearly all. Pictograms can often transcend languages in that they can communicate to speakers of a number of tongues and language families equally effectively, even if the languages and cultures are completely different. This is why ] and similar pictographic material are often applied as global standards expected to be understood by nearly all.


A standard set of pictographs was defined in the ] '']: Public Information Symbols''. Another common set of pictographs are the ] used on clothing tags and the ] as standardized by the ]. A standard set of pictograms was defined in the ] '']: Public Information Symbols''. Other common sets of pictographs are the ] used on clothing tags and the ] as standardized by the ].


Pictograms have been popularized in use on the ] and in ], better known as "]s" displayed on a computer screen in order to help user navigate a computer system or mobile device. Pictograms have been popularized in use on the Internet and in ], better known as "]s" displayed on a computer screen in order to help user navigate a computer system or mobile device.


<gallery class="center">
==Gallery==
⚫ File:GreatGalleryedit.jpg|] pictographs from the Great Gallery, ], ]
<gallery>
⚫ File:National Park Service sample pictographs.svg|Sample ] pictograms
File:Alligator pictogram.jpg|A pictograph warning against swimming because of crocodiles at the ].
⚫ File:Piktogramm Schwimmer an der Muenchner Olympia Schwimmhalle.JPG|This highly influential pictogram design was introduced at the ], although pictograms first began to appear in the games at Tokyo in 1964.
⚫ File:GreatGalleryedit.jpg|] Pictographs from the Great Gallery, ], ]
⚫ File:Railway pictograms.jpg|] passenger safety pictograms at the end of the platform at ]
File:MUTCD W3-1.svg| This sign warns that a ] is ahead.
⚫ File:Water,Rabbit,Deer.jpg|Water, rabbit, deer pictograms on a replica of an ] ]
⚫ File:National Park Service sample pictographs.svg|Sample ] pictographs
File:Piktograf1.png|Pictograph from 1510 telling a story of coming of ] to ]
⚫ File:Piktogramm Schwimmer an der Muenchner Olympia Schwimmhalle.JPG|Olympic village pictogram at the 1972 Munich Olympics
File:Pull pushpullsigns com.jpg|Pull Sign for doors. Bowed door to the left shows force of door being pulled.
File:Push pushpullsignscom.jpg|Push Sign for doors. Bowed door to the right shows force of door being pushed.
⚫ File:Railway pictograms.jpg|] passenger safety pictographs at the end of the platform at ]
⚫ File:road-sign-horse.jpg|The top traffic sign warns people of horses and riders.
⚫ File:Water,Rabbit,Deer.jpg|Water, rabbit, deer pictographs on a replica of an ] ]
</gallery> </gallery>


== See also == == See also ==
{{div col|3}} {{div col|colwidth=22em}}
*] *]
⚫ *]
*] (sublist for those using pictograms)
*] *]
*]
*] *]
*]
*] *]
*] *]
*]

*{{section link|List of writing systems#Pictographic/ideographic writing systems}}
In art:
⚫ *]
*] *]
*] *]
*] *]
*] *]
* ]
*] *]
*] *]
*]
*], in art
* ]
* ]
* ]
*] *]
{{div col end}} {{div col end}}


==Notes== ==Notes==
{{reflist}} {{Reflist}}


==References== ==References==
{{refbegin}} {{refbegin}}
* ] (2003). ''From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas, 1900-2002'', Ishmael Reed, ed. ISBN 1-56025-458-0. * ] (2003). ''From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas, 1900–2002'', Ishmael Reed, ed. {{ISBN|1-56025-458-0}}.
{{refend}} {{refend}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Commons|Pictograms}} {{Commons category|Pictograms}}
{{Wiktionary}} {{Wiktionary}}
{{refbegin}} {{refbegin}}
* *
* *
* *
* - Modern Pictographic Writing * - Modern Pictographic Writing
* - Free Pictograms under open licences * - Free Pictograms under open licences
* - Explore word and pictogram relationships
* - Number to pictogram translator
{{refend}} {{refend}}


{{Navboxes
|list =
{{Visualization}} {{Visualization}}
{{Writing systems |expanded=Ideo/Pictograms}} {{Writing systems |expanded=Ideo/Pictograms}}
{{list of writing systems}}
⚫ }}
{{Prehistoric technology}} {{Prehistoric technology}}
{{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 04:30, 29 November 2024

Ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Pictogram" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2006) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
A pictographic traffic sign (top) warning motorists of horses and riders

A pictogram (also pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto) is a graphical symbol that conveys meaning through its visual resemblance to a physical object. Pictograms are used in systems of writing and visual communication. A pictography is a writing system which uses pictograms. Some pictograms, such as hazard pictograms, may be elements of formal languages.

In the field of prehistoric art, the term "pictograph" has a different definition, and specifically refers to art painted on rock surfaces. Pictographs are contrasted with petroglyphs, which are carved or incised.

Historical

Ojibwa pictographs on cliff-face at Agawa Rock, Lake Superior Provincial Park of a boat and Mishipeshu, an animal with horns, painted with red ochre

Early written symbols were based on pictograms (pictures which resemble what they signify) and ideograms (symbols which represent ideas). Ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, and Chinese civilizations began to adapt such symbols to represent concepts, developing them into logographic writing systems. Pictograms are still in use as the main medium of written communication in some non-literate cultures in Africa, the Americas, and Oceania. Pictograms are often used as simple, pictorial, representational symbols by most contemporary cultures.

Several prehistoric engravings can be found around La Silla Observatory.

Pictograms can be considered an art form, or can be considered a written language and are designated as such in Pre-Columbian art, Native American art, Ancient Mesopotamia and Painting in the Americas before Colonization. One example of many is the Rock art of the Chumash people, part of the Native American history of California. In 2011, UNESCO's World Heritage List added "Petroglyph Complexes of the Mongolian Altai, Mongolia" to celebrate the importance of the pictograms engraved in rocks.

Some scientists in the field of neuropsychiatry and neuropsychology, such as Mario Christian Meyer, are studying the symbolic meaning of indigenous pictographs and petroglyphs, aiming to create new ways of communication between native people and modern scientists to safeguard and valorize their cultural diversity.

Modern uses

An early modern example of the extensive use of pictograms may be seen in the map in the London suburban timetables of the London and North Eastern Railway, 1936–1947, designed by George Dow, in which a variety of pictograms was used to indicate facilities available at or near each station. Pictograms remain in common use today, serving as pictorial, representational signs, instructions, or statistical diagrams. Because of their graphical nature and fairly realistic style, they are widely used to indicate public toilets, or places such as airports and train stations. Because they are a concise way to communicate a concept to people who speak many different languages, pictograms have also been used extensively at the Olympics since the 1964 summer games in Tokyo featured designs by Masaru Katsumi. Later Olympic pictograms have been redesigned for each set of games.

Pictographic writing as a modernist poetic technique is credited to Ezra Pound, though French surrealists credit the Pacific Northwest American Indians of Alaska who introduced writing, via totem poles, to North America.

Contemporary artist Xu Bing created Book from the Ground, a universal language made up of pictograms collected from around the world. A Book from the Ground chat program has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally.

In mathematics

table with boxes instead of numbers, the amounts and sizes of boxes represent amounts of people
A compound pictogram showing the breakdown of the survivors and deaths of the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic by class and age/gender

In statistics, pictograms are charts in which icons represent numbers to make it more interesting and easier to understand. A key is often included to indicate what each icon represents. All icons must be of the same size, but a fraction of an icon can be used to show the respective fraction of that amount.

For example, the following table:

Day Letters sent
Monday 10
Tuesday 17
Wednesday 29
Thursday 41
Friday 18

can be graphed as follows:

Day Letters sent
Monday one envelope
Tuesday one envelope and a half
Wednesday three envelopes  
Thursday four envelopes   
Friday two envelopes 

Key: one envelope = 10 letters

As the values are rounded to the nearest 5 letters, the second icon on Tuesday is the left half of the original.

Standardization

Pictograms can often transcend languages in that they can communicate to speakers of a number of tongues and language families equally effectively, even if the languages and cultures are completely different. This is why road signs and similar pictographic material are often applied as global standards expected to be understood by nearly all.

A standard set of pictograms was defined in the international standard ISO 7001: Public Information Symbols. Other common sets of pictographs are the laundry symbols used on clothing tags and the chemical hazard symbols as standardized by the GHS system.

Pictograms have been popularized in use on the Internet and in software, better known as "icons" displayed on a computer screen in order to help user navigate a computer system or mobile device.

See also

Notes

  1. Gove, Philip Babcock. (1993). Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged. Merriam-Webster Inc. ISBN 0-87779-201-1.
  2. Goody, Jack (1987). The interface between the written and the oral. Cambridge. p. 4. ISBN 0-521-33268-0. OCLC 14242868.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. "Signatures from the Past". ESO.org. European Southern Observatory. 30 January 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  4. Pharo, Lars Kirkhusmo (2018). "Multilingualism and Lingua Francae of Indigenous Civilizations of America". In Braarvig, Jens; Geller, Markham J. (eds.). Studies in Multilingualism, Lingua Franca and Lingua Sacra. Edition Open Access Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. p. 488. hdl:20.500.12657/25344. ISBN 9783945561133.
  5. Ambrosino, Gordon (2018-10-20). "Painted origins: inscribed landscape histories in the Fortaleza pictograph style during the Andean, late pre-Hispanic period". World Archaeology. 50 (5): 804–819. doi:10.1080/00438243.2019.1612272. ISSN 0043-8243. S2CID 198820112.
  6. "Petroglyphic Complexes of the Mongolian Altai". WHC.UNESCO.org. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. 2011.
  7. Meyer, Mario Christian (December 1985). Apprentissage de la langue maternelle écrite: étude sur des populations "les moins favorisées" dans une approche interdisciplinaire (PDF). ED-85/WS/65.
  8. Meyer, Mario Christian. "Out Of The Forest & Into The Lab: Amerindian Initiation Into Sacred Science" (PDF). In Bloom, Pamela (ed.). Amazon Up Close. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-17.
  9. Hall, C. Justin; Allen, Zachary. "Olympic Pictograms". Visual Rhetoric.
  10. "Olympic Pictograms: Design through History". MediaMadeGreat.com. 16 August 2016.
  11. Popovic, John Jan (ed.). "Olympic Games Pictograms". 1stMuse.com.
  12. Reed 2003, p. xix
  13. "Understanding pictograms". BBC — Skillswise. Archived from the original on 2013-12-29. Retrieved 2014-05-11.

References

  • Reed, Ishmael (2003). From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas, 1900–2002, Ishmael Reed, ed. ISBN 1-56025-458-0.

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