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Origin and history of logo-

logo-

before vowels log-, word-forming element meaning "speech, word," also "reason," from Greek logos "word, discourse; reason," from PIE root *leg- (1) "to collect, gather," with derivatives meaning "to speak (to 'pick out words')."

Entries linking to logo-

logocentric(adj.)

"centered on reason," 1931, from logo- "reason" + -centric.

logocracy(n.)

"system of government in which words are the ruling powers," 1804; see logo- + -cracy "rule or government by." Popularized by Washington Irving.

In this country [America] every man adopts some particular slang-whanger as the standard of his judgment, and reads everything he writes, if he reads nothing else: which is doubtless the reason why the people of this logocracy are so marvellously enlightened. [Irving, "Salmagundi," 1821]
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logogram
"word-sign, sign or character representing a word," 1840, from logo- "word" + -gram. Generically, "any symbol representing graphically a product, idea, etc.," from 1966. The earliest use of the word (1820) is in the sense "logograph," but OED explains this as a substitute for log
logograph
"instrument for giving a graphic representation of speech, word-writer," 1879, from logo- "word" + -graph "instrument for recording; something written." Earliest use (1797) is in the sense "logogriph," and it frequently was used in place of that word (see logogriph). In ancient G
prudential
Prudential, the U.S. insurance company, dates to the 1870s; its logo featuring the Rock of Gibraltar dates from c. 1900 and...
woman
"adult female human," late Old English wimman, wiman (plural wimmen), literally "woman-man," alteration of wifman (plural wifmen) "woman, female servant" (8c.), a compound of wif "woman" (see wife) + man "human being" (in Old English used in reference to both sexes; see man (n.))
heathen
Old English hæðen "not Christian or Jewish," also as a noun, "heathen man, one of a race or nation which does not acknowledge the God of the Bible" (especially of the Danes), merged with Old Norse heiðinn (adj.) "heathen, pagan," from Proto-Germanic *haithana- (source also of Old
religion
c. 1200, religioun, "state of life bound by monastic vows," also "action or conduct indicating a belief in a divine power and reverence for and desire to please it," from Anglo-French religiun (11c.), Old French religion, relegion "piety, devotion; religious community," and direc
alien
c. 1300, "strange, foreign," from Old French alien "strange, foreign;" as a noun, "an alien, stranger, foreigner," from Latin alienus "of or belonging to another, not one's own, foreign, strange," also, as a noun, "a stranger, foreigner," adjective from alius (adv.) "another, oth
ofay
African-American vernacular, "white person," 1925, of unknown origin. If, as is sometimes claimed, it derives from an African word, none corresponding to it has been found. Perhaps the most plausible speculation is Yoruba ófé "to disappear" (as from a powerful enemy), with the se
ivory tower
symbol of artistic or intellectual aloofness, by 1889, from French tour d'ivoire, used in 1837 by critic Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804-1869) with reference to the poet Alfred de Vigny (1797-1863), whom he accused of excessive aloofness. Et Vigny, plus secret, comme en sa t
victim
late 15c., "living creature killed and offered as a sacrifice to a deity or supernatural power, or in the performance of a religious rite;" from Latin victima "sacrificial animal; person or animal killed as a sacrifice," a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to vicis "turn,

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