ideographic

ideographic — 形容詞

  • ideographicpositive
  • more ideographiccomparative
  • most ideographicsuperlative

1. describing a system of writing in which each symbol or character stands for a co

1.形容詞C1
釋義

表意文字

用符號代表完整概念的書寫方式

describing a system of writing in which each symbol or character stands for a complete word or idea, rather than representing a single sound of speech.

例句

Chinese uses an ideographic writing system in which each character expresses a full concept.

中文使用表意文字系統，每個方塊字表達一個完整的概念。

collocation: ideographic writing system

Linguists find that readers recognise whole ideographic symbols much faster than letters.

語言學家發現，讀者辨識完整表意符號的速度比辨識字母快得多。

同義詞
  • logographic

    more precise in linguistics — strictly means symbols represent morphemes; often used interchangeably with 'ideographic' but not identical

  • symbolic

    broader in meaning — can refer to any symbol system, not only writing

反義詞
  • alphabetic

    describes a system where letters represent individual sounds, not whole ideas

  • phonetic

    describes writing based on sound values rather than meaning

文法句型

ideographic + noun (writing system, script, language)

用法筆記

This sense is most commonly used before nouns such as 'writing system', 'script', or 'language'. It describes the overall method of writing, not a single symbol.

常見錯誤

❌English is an ideographic language because some letters stand for ideas.
✅English uses an alphabetic, not an ideographic, writing system
💡letters represent sounds, not whole ideas.' — English is alphabetic; Chinese and Egyptian hieroglyphs are examples of ideographic systems.

2. having the nature of a single symbol that directly communicates a meaning or con

2.形容詞C1
釋義

表意符號

符號本身直接表達概念，不標示發音

having the nature of a single symbol that directly communicates a meaning or concept to the reader without showing how the word is pronounced.

例句

A heart is ideographic — people from any language background know it as a sign for love.

愛心是表意的——任何語言背景的人都知道它代表愛。

pattern: ideographic in nature

Felipe noted that the symbol '3' is ideographic because it shows the idea of a quantity, not a sound.

Felipe 指出，數字「3」這個表意符號顯示的是數量的概念，而非聲音。

同義詞
  • pictographic

    more specific — a picture that looks like the thing it represents; all pictographs are ideographic, but not all ideographs are pictographic

  • representational

    broader — describes any sign that stands for something else

反義詞
  • phonetic

    based on sound rather than meaning

文法句型

be ideographic

ideographic + noun

用法筆記

Frequently used predicatively (the symbol is ideographic) or attributively (an ideographic sign). Distinguish from sense 1: sense 1 describes a whole writing system, while sense 2 describes a single symbol or character.

常見錯誤

❌The letter A is an ideographic symbol for a sound.
✅The letter A is a phonetic symbol; an ideographic symbol represents an idea, not a sound.
💡Letters represent sounds; ideographic symbols represent concepts directly.

3. connected to the general study, analysis, or discussion of symbols that express

3.形容詞C1
釋義

表意研究

與表意符號或文字的研究討論有關

connected to the general study, analysis, or discussion of symbols that express ideas through their visual form rather than through sound.

例句

Ayesha's latest paper examines the ideographic elements found in the earliest Chinese bronze inscriptions.

Ayesha 最新的表意研究探討了最早中國青銅器銘文中的表意元素。

collocation: ideographic elements

The museum traced the ideographic features shared by Egyptian and Chinese writing.

博物館追溯了埃及與中國文字共有的表意特徵。

同義詞
  • semasiographic

    a more technical synonym used in linguistics for writing that communicates meaning without representing speech

  • conceptual

    broader term that is not specific to writing systems

反義詞
  • glottographic

    technical term for writing that represents spoken language

文法句型

ideographic + noun (study, research, elements, features)

用法筆記

This is the broadest sense of the three. It appears in academic contexts and refers to any aspect — historical, structural, or theoretical — that concerns ideograms. Unlike sense 1, it does not require the subject to be a full writing system, and unlike sense 2, it does not describe a single symbol's own quality.