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<!DOCTYPE HTML> <html> <head> <title>Semanto-phonetic writing systems</title> <meta name="description" content="Semanto-phonetic writing systems, such as Chinese and Egyptian Hieroglyphs, may include symbols represent both sound and meaning." />  <script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src= 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f); })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-WB7PSHBG');</script>  <meta charset="UTF-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://www.omniglot.com/images/logos/omniglot_thumbnail.jpg" /> <meta property="og:type" content="https://www.facebook.com/pg/Omniglot-100430558332117/posts/" /> <link href="/styles/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <script src="https://the.gatekeeperconsent.com/cmp.min.js" data-cfasync="false"></script> <script async src="//www.ezojs.com/ezoic/sa.min.js"></script> <script> window.ezstandalone = window.ezstandalone || {}; ezstandalone.cmd = ezstandalone.cmd || []; </script></head> <body> <div id="header">  <noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-WB7PSHBG" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <p><a href="/index.htm"><img src="/images/logos/header_omniglot.png" width="600" height="70" alt="Omniglot - the online encyclopedia of writing systems & languages" /></a></p> <ul> <li><a href="/index.htm">Home</a></li> <li><a href="/writing/index.htm">Alphabets</a></li> <li><a href="/conscripts/index.htm">Constructed scripts</a></li> <li><a href="/writing/languages.htm">Languages</a></li> <li><a href="/language/phrases/phraseindex.htm">Phrases</a></li> <li><a href="/language/numbers/index.htm">Numbers</a></li> <li><a href="/language/ml.htm">Multilingual Pages</a></li> <li><a href="/search.htm">Search</a></li> <li><a href="/news/index.htm">News</a></li> <li><a href="/about.htm">About</a></li> <li><a href="/contact.htm">Contact</a></li> </ul></div> <div id="bodybox"> <div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-162"></div> <script> ezstandalone.cmd.push(function() { ezstandalone.showAds(162); }); </script><div id="body"> <h1>Semanto-phonetic writing systems</h1> <p>The symbols used in these semanto-phonetic writing systems often represent both sound and meaning. As a result, these scripts generally include a large number of symbols: anything from several hundred to tens of thousands. In fact there is no theoretical upper limit to the number of symbols in some scripts, such as Chinese. These scripts could also be called logophonetic, morphophonemic, logographic or logosyllabic. </p> <p>Semanto-phonetic writing systems may include the following types of symbol: </p> <p><img src="../images/writing/pictographic.gif" width="187" height="94" class="rightfloat" alt="Examples of pictographic glyphs from the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic and Chinese scripts" /> </p> <h2>Pictograms and logograms</h2> <p>Pictograms or pictographs resemble the things they represent. Logograms are symbols that represent parts of words or whole words. The image on the right shows some examples of pictograms from the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic and Chinese scripts. The Chinese characters used to look like the things they stand for, but have become increasingly stylized over the years. </p> <h2>Ideograms</h2> <p>Ideograms or ideographs are symbols which graphically represent abstract ideas. The image below shows a number of ideographic Chinese characters. </p> <p><img src="../images/writing/ideographic.gif" width="540" height="57" alt="Some ideographic Chinese characters" /> </p> <h2>Compound characters</h2> <p>The majority of characters in the Chinese script are semanto-phonetic compounds: they include a semantic element, which represents or hints at their meaning, and a phonetic element, which shows or hints at their pronunciation. Below are a few such compound characters which all share a semantic element meaning 'horse'. </p> <p><img src="../images/writing/chinese_horse4.gif" width="585" height="87" alt="Some examples of Chinese semanto-phonetic compound characters" /> </p> <p>Sometimes symbols are used for their phonetic value alone, without regard for their meaning, for example when transliterating foreign names and loan words. </p> <div id="index"> <h2>Semanto-phonetic writing systems currently in use</h2> <table> <tr> <td><a href="../chinese/index.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_chinese.gif" width="46" height="23" alt="Zhōngwén" /><br />Chinese (Zhōngwén)</a></td> <td><a href="japanese.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_japanese.gif" width="68" height="23" alt="Japanese" /><br />Japanese (Nihongo)</a></td> </tr> </table> <h2>Semanto-phonetic writing systems used mainly for decorative, ceremonial or religious purposes</h2> <table> <tr> <td><a href="naxi.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_naxi.gif" width="132" height="30" alt="Naxi script (sər33 tɕə21 lʏ33 tɕə21)" /><br />Naxi</a></td> </tr> </table> <h2>Semanto-phonetic writing systems that are no longer used</h2> <table> <tr> <td><a href="akkadian.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/akkadian.gif" width="155" height="34" alt="Akkadian" /><br />Akkadian (Cuneiform)</a></td> <td><a href="egyptian_demotic.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_demotic.gif" width="100" height="19" alt="Ancient Egyptian Demotic script" /><br />Ancient Egyptian Demotic</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="egyptian_hieratic.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_hieratic2.gif" width="102" height="25" alt="Ancient Egyptian Hieratic script" /><br />Ancient Egyptian Hieratic</a></td> <td><a href="egyptian.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_hieroglyphs.gif" width="174" height="45" alt="Ancient Egyptian Hieroglypic script" /><br />Ancient Egyptian Hieroglypic</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="cuneiform.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_cuneiform.gif" width="195" height="28" alt="Cuneiform" /><br />Cuneiform</a></td> <td><a href="chunom.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_chunom2.gif" width="58" height="116" alt="Chữ Nôm" /><br />Chữ-nôm</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="jurchen.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_jurchen1.gif" width="47" height="102" alt="Jurchen" /><br />Jurchen</a></td> <td><a href="khitan.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_khitan2.gif" width="180" height="67" alt="Khitan" /><br />Khitan</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="linearb.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_linearb.gif" width="79" height="29" alt="Linear B" /><br />Linear B</a></td> <td><a href="luwian.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_luwian.gif" width="71" height="33" alt="Luwian (luwili)" /><br />Luwian</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="mayan.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_mayan.gif" width="135" height="57" alt="Mayan script" /><br />Mayan</a></td> <td><a href="zhuang.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_sawndip.gif" width="65" height="111" alt="Old Zhuang Script (sawndip)"><br />Old Zhuang (sawndip)</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="sui.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_sui.gif" width="39" height="139" alt="Sui script" /><br />Sui</a></td> <td><a href="sumerian.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_sumerian.gif" width="70" height="33" alt="Sumerian Cuneiform" /><br />Sumerian (Cuneiform)</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="tangut.htm"><img src="../images/langnames/nm_tangut.gif" width="58" height="139" alt="Tangut (Xīxià/Hsihsia)" /><br />Tangut (Xīxià/Hsi-hsia)</a></td> <td> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <h3>Please note</h3> <p>transcriptions in the <a href="ipa.htm">International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)</a> are used extensively throughout this website. The IPA transcriptions are the letters and other symbols which appear in square bracketts, like this [b], [p]. etc. </p> <p>You can learn about the IPA and phonetics at<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet</a><br /> <a href="http://www.nativlang.com/linguistics/ipa-pronunciation-lessons.php">http://www.nativlang.com/linguistics/ipa-pronunciation-lessons.php</a><br /> <a href="http://cmed.faculty.ku.edu/acdapres/rabeipa/index.html">http://cmed.faculty.ku.edu/acdapres/rabeipa/index.html</a><br /> <a href="https://linguischtick.wordpress.com/ipa/">https://linguischtick.wordpress.com/ipa/</a><br /> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBo5LAVYtX4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBo5LAVYtX4</a><br /> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2frVKeVTKU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2frVKeVTKU</a></p> <p><strong>Writing systems</strong>: <a href="/writing/abjads.htm">Abjads</a> | <a href="/writing/alphabets.htm">Alphabets</a> | <a href="/writing/abugidas.htm">Abugidas</a> | <a href="/writing/syllabaries.htm">Syllabaries</a> | <a href="/writing/semanto-phonetic.php">Semanto-phonetic scripts</a> | <a href="/writing/undeciphered.htm">Undeciphered scripts</a> | <a href="/writing/alternative.htm">Alternative scripts</a> | <a href="/conscripts/index.htm">Constructed scripts</a> | <a href="/conscripts/fictional.htm">Fictional scripts</a> | <a href="/conscripts/magical.htm">Magical scripts</a> | <a href="/writing/index.htm">Index (A-Z)</a> | <a href="/writing/direction.htm">Index (by direction)</a> | <a href="/writing/langalph.htm">Index (by language)</a> | <a href="/writing/continents.htm">Index (by continent)</a> | <a href="/writing/definition.htm">What is writing?</a> | <a href="/writing/types.htm">Types of writing system</a> | <a href="/writing/writingvspeech.htm">Differences between writing and speech</a> | <a href="/writing/stats.htm">Language and Writing Statistics</a> | <a href="/writing/languages.htm">Languages</a> </p><p><em>Page last modified: 31.12.21</em> </p> <p class="right"><script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdnjs.buymeacoffee.com/1.0.0/button.prod.min.js" data-name="bmc-button" data-slug="omniglot" data-color="#FFDD00" data-emoji="" data-font="Cookie" data-text="Buy me a coffee" data-outline-color="#000000" data-font-color="#000000" data-coffee-color="#ffffff"></script> </p> <p class="right">[<a href="#top">top</a>] </p> <hr /> <div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-171"></div> <script> ezstandalone.cmd.push(function() { ezstandalone.showAds(171); }); </script> <p><a href="http://my.kualo.com/uk/go/00572"><img src="https://images.kualo.com/rewards/greenhosting-light.gif" width="162" height="62" class="rightfloat" alt="Green Web Hosting - Kualo"/></a> </p> <p>You can support this site by <a href="https://buymeacoffee.com/omniglot">Buying Me A Coffee</a>, and if you like what you see on this page, you can use the buttons below to share it with people you know. </p>  <div class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 a2a_default_style"> <a class="a2a_dd" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share"></a> <a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a> <a class="a2a_button_bluesky"></a> <a class="a2a_button_threads"></a> <a class="a2a_button_mastodon"></a> <a class="a2a_button_copy_link"></a> </div> <script defer src="https://static.addtoany.com/menu/page.js"></script>  <p> </p> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.spanishpod101.com/member/go.php?r=28935&i=b0"><img src="https://www.omniglot.com/images/banners/banner_spanishpod101.jpg" width="630" height="81" alt="SpanishPod101 - learn Spanish for free" /></a><p>If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=7ZJDTZECMH3SJ">PayPal</a> or <a href="https://www.patreon.com/omniglot">Patreon</a>, or by <a href="/donations.htm">contributing in other ways</a>. 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