ideograph

[id-ee-uh-graf, ahy-dee-]

noun

1. ideogram.

2. Rhetoric.,  an ordinary language term that, within a particular ideology, has developed a loose, flexible, nonspecific use that stands for values and ideas present within that ideology, rather than having a specific, concrete meaning.

   In the training materials, <leadership> is used as an ideograph to reinforce the military hierarchy.

Other Word Forms

• ideographic adjective
• ideographical adjective
• ideographically adverb
• unideographic adjective
• unideographical adjective
• unideographically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of ideograph¹

First recorded in 1825–35; ideo- + -graph

Example Sentences

Chinese takeaways included writing systems of Chinese ideographs, philosophies such as Confucianism, religions such as Buddhism, medical techniques such as acupuncture, literary classics, martial arts and more.

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The ideograph, in Japanese brush painting, is finding “How do you do a whole bamboo forest in three brush strokes?”

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The Chinese ideograph for the female “I,” Maxine Kingston says, means slave.

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These imaginary ideographs sometimes incorporated snippets of streamlined nature imagery from Green’s black-and-white paintings and were generally rendered in black on a single-hued background.

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“The emoji themselves are ideographs, one of the most ancient ways to communicate,” she said.

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