ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Semasiography

Okay, so let's talk about semasiography. Have you ever used a symbol, like a smiley face, to show how you're feeling instead of using words? That's kind of like what semasiography is for. It's a fancy word that means using pictures or symbols instead of words to communicate.

For example, let's say you were trying to tell someone about a cat. Instead of saying the word "cat," you could draw a picture of a cat, like this: 🐱. That picture is a symbol that stands for the word "cat." Semasiography allows people to communicate without using words, which can be really helpful if you don't speak the same language as someone else.

People have been using symbols to communicate for a really long time, even before there was a written language. For example, ancient civilizations would use symbols to represent things like the sun or the moon. Later on, people started using symbols to represent numbers, like the Roman numerals we still use today.

So, in summary, semasiography is a way of communicating using symbols instead of words. It's been around for a really long time and is especially helpful when people don't speak the same language.
Related topics others have asked about: