{{Short description|Ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object}} {{more citations needed|date=November 2006}} thumb|upright=1.35|Sampling of US National Park Service pictograms
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 graphic 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<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goody|first=Jack|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 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.
Small pictograms displayed on a computer screen in order to help the user navigate are called ''icons''.
==Historical== 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.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}} Pictograms are often used as simple, pictorial, representational symbols by most contemporary cultures.
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.<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|url-access=subscription}}</ref> 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"<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 Mario Christian Meyer, 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>
<gallery> Agawa Rock, panel VIII.jpg|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 Signatures from the Past.jpg|Several prehistoric engravings can be found around La Silla Observatory.<ref>{{cite web|title=Signatures from the Past|url=https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1705a/|website=ESO.org|publisher=European Southern Observatory|access-date=30 January 2017|date=30 January 2017}}</ref> GreatGalleryedit.jpg|Native American pictographs from the Great Gallery, Horseshoe Canyon, Canyonlands National Park Water,Rabbit,Deer.jpg|Water, rabbit, deer pictograms on a replica of an Aztec Sun Stone </gallery>
== 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 {{Interlanguage link|Masaru Katsumi|fr}}. 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 Ezra Pound, though French surrealists credit the Pacific Northwest American Indians of Alaska who introduced writing, via totem poles, to North America.<ref>Reed 2003, p. xix</ref>
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.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}
Emojis are a type of pictogram.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}
==In mathematics== thumb|alt=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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/factsheet/ma37grap-e3-f-pictograms|title=Understanding pictograms|website=BBC — 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>
{| |-style="vertical-align:top" |style="width:17em" | For example, the following table: {| class="wikitable sortable" ! Day !! Letters sent |- | Monday || 10 |- | Tuesday || 17 |- | Wednesday || 29 |- | Thursday || 41 |- | Friday || 18 |} |can be graphed as follows: {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Day !! Letters sent |- | Monday || alt=one envelope |- | Tuesday || alt=one envelope alt=and a half |- | Wednesday || alt=three envelopes alt= alt= |- | Thursday || alt=four envelopes alt= alt= alt= |- | Friday || alt=two envelopes alt= |} |- | colspan="2" | <small>Key: alt=one envelope = 10 letters; alt=a half envelope = 5 letters<br />As the values are rounded to the nearest 5 letters, the second icon on Tuesday is the left half of the original.</small> |}
==In medicine and agriculture== Miscommunication, for example due to language barriers or cognitive impairment, is a relevant factor for misdiagnosis in medicine. Pictograms and other forms of visual aids have therefore been used to ease communication and improve patient care, for example by ensuring medication adherence.<ref name="DOI10.2146/ajhp060162">Marra G. Katz, Sunil Kripalani, Barry D. Weiss: ''Use of pictorial aids in medication instructions: A review of the literature.'' In: ''American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy.'' 2006, Band 63, Nummer 23, S. 2391–2397 {{DOI|10.2146/ajhp060162}}.</ref> Reviews found especially pronounced effects in low-literacy patients.<ref name="DOI10.1016/j.pec.2020.11.034">Njabulo Mbanda, Shakila Dada, Kirsty Bastable, Ingalill Gimbler-Berglund, Schlosser Ralf W.: ''A scoping review of the use of visual aids in health education materials for persons with low-literacy levels.'' In: ''Patient Education and Counseling.'' 2020, Band 104, Nummer 5, S. 998–1017 {{DOI|10.1016/j.pec.2020.11.034}}.</ref><ref name="DOI10.1016/j.pec.2020.04.010">Danielle Schubbe, Peter Scalia, Renata W. Yen, Catherine Saunders, Sarah Cohen, Glyn Elwyn, Maria van den Muijsenbergh, Marie‐Anne Durand: ''Using pictures to convey health information: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects on patient and consumer health behaviors and outcomes.'' In: ''Patient Education and Counseling.'' 2020, Band 103, Nummer 10, S. 1935–1960 {{DOI|10.1016/j.pec.2020.04.010}}.</ref>
There is regular use of pictograms for products used in agriculture to aid hazard recognition, and also to advise on the correct usage of agrochemicals for agricultural workers with limited reading skills. This is often a national legal requirement, and many pictograms are standard throughout the industry.<ref>{{cite web|title=FAO: Guidelines on Good Labelling Practice for Pesticides|url=https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/agphome/documents/Pests_Pesticides/Code/Old_guidelines/label.pdf|access-date=4 August 2025}}</ref>
==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.
<gallery> road-sign-horse.jpg|A pictographic traffic sign (top) warning motorists of horses and riders Railway pictograms.jpg|British Rail passenger safety pictograms at the end of the platform at Meols railway station Piktogramm Schwimmer an der Muenchner Olympia Schwimmhalle.JPG|This highly influential pictogram design was introduced at the 1972 Munich Olympics, although pictograms first began to appear in the games at Tokyo in 1964. </gallery>
== See also == {{div col|colwidth=22em}} *Blissymbols *Bouba/kiki effect *Crop art *Emoticon *Emoji *Globally Harmonized System of hazard pictograms *Icon (computing) *Ideasthesia *Ideogram *Label *List of Stone Age art *List of symbols *{{section link|List of writing systems#Pictographic/ideographic writing systems}} *Pecked curvilinear nucleated *Petroform *Petroglyph *Rebus *Road sign *Rock art *Rock art of the Chumash people *Sound symbolism *Stick figure, in art *Symbol *Traffic sign *Warning sign *Yakima Indian Painted Rocks {{div col end}}
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== {{refbegin}} * 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}}. {{refend}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Pictograms}} {{Wiktionary}} {{refbegin}} *[http://pic-com.jp/ Pictogram & Communication: About 1,500 practical pictograms based on Design principles of pictorial symbols for communication support(JIS T 0103:2005)] *[http://capl.washjeff.edu/ CAPL:The Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon, photographic illustrations of objects for multiple languages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720112547/http://capl.washjeff.edu/ |date=2011-07-20 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20150511095242/http://pictopedia.jp/eng/ Pictogram Encyclopedia, The collection site of more than 500 pictograms, Pictograms are categorized, and easy to find unique pictogram] *[http://www.pictopen.com Pictopen] - Modern Pictographic Writing *[http://thenounproject.com NounProject] - Free Pictograms under open licences *[http://modernpictograms.com Modern Pictograms] - Explore word and pictogram relationships *[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2016+to+Babylonian Wolfram|Alpha] - Number to pictogram translator {{refend}}
{{Visualization}} {{Writing systems |expanded=Ideo/Pictograms}} {{list of writing systems}} {{Prehistoric technology}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Infographics Category:Prehistoric inscriptions Category:Pictograms Category:Rock art * Category:Pre-Columbian art Category:Indigenous art Category:History of communication Category:Proto-writing Category:Statistical charts and diagrams