the.com/pictograph
A word drawn instead of spelled, because some ideas predate the alphabet's ego.
means A symbol or picture that represents a word, idea, or concept directly, rather than spelling out sounds the way letters do.
from Built from Latin 'pictus' (painted, from 'pingere,' to paint) plus Greek 'graphein' (to write or scratch), it yokes two ancient arts together — painting and writing — to name something older than either as a separate craft, back when a drawing of a bull simply meant 'bull.'
- origin
- cave walls were the first infographics
- modern form
- every bathroom door sign ever
- vs hieroglyph
- pictographs show things, not sounds
- data twist
- bar charts made of tiny icons count too