pictographs definition
A pictograph is a picture or image that represents a word or a phrase. Anything that conveys information using just pictures can be called a pictograph. When you click on an icon on your computer, that's a pictograph, and when you text an emoji to your friend, that's another kind of pictograph.
(November 2006) A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to a considerable extent pictorial in appearance.
n. 1  1. A picture representing a word, phrase, or idea, especially one used in early writing systems. 2  2. A pictorial representation of numerical data or relationships, especially a graph, but having each value represented by a proportional number of pictures.