Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🪧 A picture symbol 📊 A picture chart
pictograph

pictograph

1 4.9
A chart using repeated pictures where each stands for a fixed number
  • noun
  • /ˈpɪk.təˌgræf/
translation icon : pictograma
  • In the presentation, the pictograph highlighted the increase in population by using icons to represent every ten people.

Examples

  • The third step is to have students construct a picture, pictograph, or symbolic representation of the term.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The teacher asked the students to create a pictograph showing the number of books they read each month.

  • Pictographs

    Academic text (1999)

  • A pictograph of popular fruits illustrates how many of each type were sold at the market last week.

Synonyms

infographic
vspictograph
19 3.9

A picture or chart that helps people understand information quickly

focuses narrowly on repeated symbols that count items exactly
pictogram
vspictograph
1 4.1

A chart that uses small pictures to show how numbers compare

uses fixed-count symbols where each stands for a specific number

How Pictorial

pictograph
1 4.9
illustration
66 2.8
bar chart
1 3.0
table
  • Specialized
779 2.6

Surface Forms

pictograph singular
pictographs plural

Morphology

pictograph = picture + graph (semi-transparent) = picture + graph

The structure suggests a picture-based diagram, but the exact convention of a repeated-symbol chart is a learned technical meaning rather than an obvious literal compound.

Etymology

Pictograph starts with the parts pict- and -graph, which mean 'painted' and 'write' and are like the words picture and graph. So a pictograph chart is a 'picture writing' chart where each small picture stands for a number of items, which makes amounts easy to see.