semiotics
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About Our Definitions: All forms of a word (noun, verb, etc.) are now displayed on one page.se·mi·ot·ics
noun \-ˈä-tiks\ plural semiotics
Definition of SEMIOTICS
: a general philosophical theory of signs and symbols that deals especially with their function in both artificially constructed and natural languages and comprises syntactics, semantics, and pragmatics
— semiotic adjective
— se·mi·o·ti·cian \-ə-ˈti-shən\ noun
— se·mi·ot·i·cist \-ˈä-tə-sist\ noun
See Variants of SEMIOTICS
se·mi·ot·ics or se·mi·ot·ic \-tik\
Origin of SEMIOTICS
Greek sēmeiōtikos observant of signs, from sēmeiousthai to interpret signs, from sēmeion sign, from sēma sign
First Known Use: 1880
Other Grammar and Linguistics Terms
semiotics
noun (Concise Encyclopedia)Study of signs and sign-using behaviour, especially in language. In the late 19th and early 20th century the work of Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce led to the emergence of semiotics as a method for examining phenomena in different fields, including aesthetics, anthropology, communications, psychology, and semantics. Interest in the structure behind the use of particular signs links semiotics with the methods of structuralism. Saussure's theories are also fundamental to poststructuralism.
Variants of SEMIOTICS
semiotics or semiology
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