iconography

noun

ico·​nog·​ra·​phy ˌī-kə-ˈnä-grə-fē 

plural iconographies

1

: the traditional or conventional images or symbols associated with a subject and especially a religious or legendary subject

2

: pictorial material relating to or illustrating a subject

3

: the imagery or symbolism of a work of art, an artist, or a body of art

4

: iconology

Did you know?

If you saw a 17th-century painting of a man writing at a desk with a lion at his feet, would you know you were looking at St. Jerome, translator of the Bible, who, according to legend, once pulled a thorn from the paw of a lion, which thereafter became his devoted friend? And if a painting showed a young woman reclining on a bed with a shower of gold descending on her, would you recognize her as Danaë, locked up in a tower to keep her away from the lustful Zeus, who then managed to gain access to her by transforming himself into golden light (or golden coins)? An iconographic approach to art can make museum-going a lot of fun—and amateur iconographers know there are also plenty of symbols lurking in the images that advertisers bombard us with daily.

Examples of iconography in a Sentence

the iconography of the 1960s

Recent Examples on the Web

Advertisement Aster keenly satirizes Joe’s idiocy in the face of social upheaval through the iconography of Westerns. —Robert Daniels, Time, 10 Oct. 2025

These evocations of the iconography of October 7th may or may not be coincidental, but the language and imagery take on an additional charge when considered alongside Harwicz’s public statements on the war in Gaza. —Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2025

For the martial artist and action star Bruce Lee, iconography and vulnerability were entwined. —New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025

How much hip-hop iconography would be considered anti-American under this new regime of revisionist history? —Rodney Carmichael, NPR, 1 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Late Latin īconographia "making of images," borrowed from Greek eikonographía "sketch, description" (Late Greek, "making of images"), from eikono- icono- + -graphia -graphy

First Known Use

1678, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for iconography

• bibliography
• choreography
• chromatography
• crystallography
• hagiography
• lexicography
• metallography
• myelography
• oceanography
• physiography
• plethysmography
• polarography