SEMIOTICS

or semiotic noun (plural ~) Etymology: Greek sēmeiōtikos observant of signs, from sēmeiousthai to interpret signs, from sēmeion sign, from sēma sign Date: 1880 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 semiotician noun semioticist noun