pictogram definition

The pictogram it's a sign that is part of a writing and that is characterized by being a symbol or figure.

Sign of a writing that consists of a symbol or figure and that allows to express ideas and concepts

It is a form of communication that allows to express ideas, concepts, among others, in writing, using simple and very elementary drawings, that is, without much complexity, and which therefore turn out to be easy to understand for the recipients of that message.

The way to communicate of prehistoric men and civilizations such as the Egyptian, Chinese, Sumerian ...

This type of signs were part of the writing that the most primitive human beings handled millions of years ago, proof of this are the famous cave paintings found in endless caves that just demonstrated that these prehistoric men used these drawings or pictograms to communicate various issues that they did to their daily lives, interests and activities.

Now, closer to our time there were other peoples such as the Egyptians, the Sumerians and the Chinese who used pictograms in their writings.

In the case of Chinese writing, in its beginnings, which is attributed an antiquity of about five thousand years at least, pictograms were used exclusively to express themselves and this happened for a very long time.

Already after a certain time this type of writing began to lose strength and the characters began to be used.

Although, one of the most emblematic writings that has used the pictograms is the hieroglyphic, used and created in Ancient Egypt, the cradle of a certainly advanced culture and that in this sense also marked a hinge milestone in history.

Hieroglyphs were precisely signs that represented words by means of figures or symbols, which were engraved on a stone surface.

We cannot ignore that the writing based on these pictograms was known to be a mystery that caught the attention of the later human being who worked tirelessly to decipher it.

The French philologist Jean-François Champollion found a stone popularized as the Rosetta Stone in Egypt and from it he was able to decode this particular writing system.

Today we use them to indicate or warn

Meanwhile, today, this symbol that represents a figure or an object and that serves to communicate or indicate something It can indicate a ban, the presence of a service station near the place you are, a restaurant, a bus stop, among other options.

It should also be noted that as we already said many ancient alphabets were created on the basis of pictograms and this is precisely because in the beginnings of humanity the human being recorded the events that occurred precisely from pictograms.

For example, the cave paintings found inside the caves may well be considered as pictograms.

Then, the pictogram was a fundamental element at the behest of the development of writing because it would be from them that man began to develop more complicated symbols, ideograms, and that they conveyed thoughts.

With the arrival of cuneiform writing, a notorious advance in terms of abstraction would be achieved, because in this the symbols in addition to representing words were associated with a specific sound.

This type of writing was written on a wet clay table, using a wedge, which came from beveling a vegetable stem, then the stone and metal would be used for the engravings.

Currently and as we quickly pointed out in the first paragraph of this review, the pictogram is used to communicate a message that must be understood immediately, when the recipient only looks at it, and for example, a representative, clear and precious symbol is the best way to do it.

The pictograms that we use today avoid details and ornamentation and are only intended to refer to what they want to communicate.

On the other hand, the pictogram manages to avoid the obstacle of a language that is not understood since universal symbols are used that anyone, even a child, is able to understand simply.

Now, for this reason is that the pictogram is widely used in the world to communicate warning signs or bring useful information to people.

Thus, the photograph or drawing of a woman dressed as a nurse and bringing her index finger vertically over her mouth, in an office or in a hospital, warns those of us who are there that we must be silent, or at least speak as quietly as possible so as not to disturb patients who are treating or recovering.