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Origin and history of logogram

logogram(n.)

"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 logograph, "which in this sense is itself a mistake for logogriph," the old type of word-puzzle.

Entries linking to logogram

type of word puzzle based on synonyms, etc., and often in the form of a verse, 1590s, from French logogriphe, from Greek logos "word" (see Logos) + gripos/griphos "riddle," a figurative use, literally "fishing basket, creel," probably from a pre-Greek word in a lost Mediterranean language. "The variation [p/ph] is typical for Pre-Greek words; such an origin for a fisherman's word is quite understandable" [Beekes].

"simple symbol or graphic meant to represent something," 1937, probably a shortening of logogram "sign or character representing a word."

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