What's a pictogram?

As defined by Webster's Third New International Dictionary, pictogram is a variant of the word pictograph. So, while the word pictogram can be substituted for pictograph, the word pictogram itself has no real meaning—unless you're referring to us and our trademarked brand, Pictogram®!

What's a pictograph? Webster's defines a pictograph as:

1) an ancient or prehistoric drawing or painting on a rock wall—like you might see in a cave or cliff: a petroglyph.

2) a pictorial representation of some object used to symbolize that object in pictography or a writing system that includes elements of pictograph—like you might read if you are fluent in Chinese: a word picture.

3) one of the symbols belonging to any graphic system the characters of which are to considerable extent pictorial in appearance regardless of whether the symbols serve a pictographic, ideographic or phonetic function—like you might spot on the walls of ancient pyramids: a hieroglyph.

4) a diagram representing statistical data by pictorial forms which can be varied in color, size, or number to indicate change—like you might find in a science book: a diagram.