semiotics

English

WOTD – 11 September 2007

Etymology

Coined by John Locke from Ancient Greek σημειωτικός (sēmeiōtikós, “fitted for marking, portending”), from σημειόω (sēmeióō, “to mark, interpret as a portend”), from σημεῖον (sēmeîon, “a mark, sign, token”), from σῆμα (sêma, “mark, sign”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌsɛm.iˈɒt.ɪks/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌsɛm.iˈɑt.ɪks/, /ˌsiː.miˈɑt.ɪks/, /ˌsiː.maɪˈɑt.ɪks/

Noun

semiotics (uncountable)

1. The study of signs and symbols, especially as means of language or communication.

   Holonym: social science

2. (dated) The study of medical signs and symptoms; symptomatology.

Derived terms

• anthroposemiotics
• biosemiotics
• psychosemiotics
• sociological semiotics
• sociosemiotics
• zoosemiotics

Related terms

• semantic
• semantics
• semasiology
• sematic
• sematology
• seme
• sememe
• semiosis
• semiotic

Translations

study of signs

• Albanian: semiotika f
• Arabic: سميوطيقا (ar) ?
• Armenian: նշանագիտություն (hy) (nšanagitutʻyun)
• Catalan: semiòtica f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 符號語言學 / 符号语言学 (fúhào yǔyánxué), 符號學 / 符号学 (zh) (fúhàoxué), 記號學 / 记号学 (jìhaoxué)

• Czech: sémiotika (cs) f
• Danish: semiotik c
• Dutch: semiotiek (nl) f
• Esperanto: semiotiko
• Finnish: semiotiikka (fi)
• French: sémiotique (fr) f
• Georgian: სემიოტიკა (semioṭiḳa)
• German: Semiotik (de) f
• Greek: σημειολογία (el) f (simeiología)
• Hindi: संकेतविज्ञान m (saṅketvijñān)
• Indonesian: semiotika (id)
• Interlingua: semiotica
• Italian: semiotica (it) f
• Japanese: 記号論 (きごうろん, kigōron)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: semiotikk (no) m

  Nynorsk: semiotikk m

• Occitan: semiotica (oc) f
• Persian: نشانه‌شناسی (nešâne-šenâsi)
• Polish: semiotyka (pl) f, semiologia (pl) f
• Portuguese: semiótica (pt) f
• Romanian: semiotică (ro) f
• Russian: семио́тика (ru) f (semiótika)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: семио̀тика f

  Roman: semiòtika (sh) f

• Spanish: semiótica (es) f
• Swedish: semiotik (sv) c
• Turkish: göstergebilim
• Vietnamese: kí hiệu học

See also

• semiology
• symbology

Further reading

• “semiotics”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “semiotics”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “semiotics”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• misticoes, societism