The term ideograph was coined in 1980, however ideographs were likely used for hundreds of years, if not more, prior to this.

Pictographs and Ideographs

Ideographs have been used for thousands of years in various cultures, with ancient examples found in civilizations like Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China. The specific origins or "invention" of ideographs may vary depending on the culture, but they have played a significant role in written communication throughout history.

Ideographs

Pictographs resemble what they mean. For example, a pictograph of "Tiger" would be more or less recognizable as the image of a tiger crudely drawn.

Ideographs do not resemble what they mean. However, Ideographs can resemble one another (i.e. the ideograph of "Tiger" may resemble the ideograph of "Lion", but neither would resemble a Tiger or Lion crudely drawn). Ideographs can also steal phonetic pieces (i.e. The ideograph for "Shipping" may have the ideograph for "ping" in it since "ping" is phonetically part of "Shipping"). Finally Ideographs can be composed of multiple minor ideographs working in concert (i.e. "Archer" may be written as combination of "bow" and "man" since the Archer is man who uses a bow). None of the combination-elements are present in pictographs.