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picture writing

See more synonyms for picture writing on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the art of recording events or expressing ideas by pictures, or pictorial symbols, as practiced by preliterate peoples.
  2. pictorial symbols forming a record or communication.
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Origin of picture writing

First recorded in 1735–45
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for picture writing

Historical Examples

  • The earliest Egyptian writing was that which is called hieroglyphic, or picture-writing.

    History of Religion

    Allan Menzies

  • This warlike message is a specimen of Indian picture-writing.

  • In this time did the picture-writing change, or, indeed, was it ever identical?

  • And yet this is the picture-writing of the Aztecs, with which the world has been so edified for centuries.

    Mexico and its Religion

    Robert A. Wilson

  • They corresponded with their kindred on the plains by picture-writing.

British Dictionary definitions for picture writing

picture writing

noun
  1. any writing system that uses pictographs
  2. a system of artistic expression and communication using pictures or symbolic figures
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012