# Logographic script · Concept

> A writing system whose signs stand for words or morphemes.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02H879M/logographic-script  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Concepts](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts)Logographic script

Concept · linguistics · in 7 mysteries

# Logographic script

A writing system whose signs stand for words or morphemes.

[Indus script](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/indus-script)[Cretan Hieroglyphic](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cretan-hieroglyphic)[Proto-Elamite and Linear Elamite](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-elamite)

A script in which a sign is a word or a unit of meaning, so the sign count runs into the hundreds or thousands. Most real scripts mix logograms with sound signs. The Indus script's four hundred or so signs are too many for a syllabary and too few for a purely logographic one, which is part of the argument over whether it is writing at all.

## Where it comes up

**[Indus script](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/indus-script)**

The signs are proto-writing, a system that records names, titles and commodities by logograms without full phonetic encoding of speech.

[The signs are proto-writing, a system that records names, titles and commodities by logograms without full…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/indus-script/answers/ANS0CWY3J002H5Q/the-signs-are-proto-writing-a-system-that-records-names)

**[Cretan Hieroglyphic](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cretan-hieroglyphic)**

The clay documents come from administrative deposits and combine sign groups with logograms and decimal numerals, the layout of accounts.

[Q: What did the clay documents and the seal inscriptions record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cretan-hieroglyphic/questions/QST0DEDX1A1NMX2/what-did-the-clay-documents-and-the-seal-inscriptions-record)[The clay documents come from administrative deposits and combine sign groups with logograms and decimal numerals, the…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cretan-hieroglyphic/evidence/EVD0DEECQ8D3GPB/the-clay-documents-come-from-administrative-deposits-and)

**[Proto-Elamite and Linear Elamite](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-elamite)**

[Proto-Elamite writes a language, probably early Elamite, with logograms and some syllabic signs.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-elamite/answers/ANS0D1P96406PD9/proto-elamite-writes-a-language-probably-early-elamite-with)[The values are largely right but the system includes logograms or misassigned signs, so some readings will…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-elamite/answers/ANS0D1P94N40K89/the-values-are-largely-right-but-the-system-includes)

**[Unread cuneiform: half a million tablets and the limits of Sumerian](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform)**

[Q: Why do the Early Dynastic literary texts from Fara and Abu Salabikh resist reading, and can they be read without later duplicates?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT3AM4NHK/why-do-the-early-dynastic-literary-texts-from-fara-and-abu)

**[Linear A](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/linear-a)**

The commodity logograms are mostly recognisable from their Linear B counterparts.

**[Byblos syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary)**

A set of that size cannot be an alphabet and is unlikely to be purely logographic, so the script is taken to be a syllabary, probably of open consonant-vowel syllables, with some logograms; Garbini noted that a Semitic…

**[Eteocretan and Eteocypriot](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot)**

In both cases the Linear B parallel sets the standard: Ventris's values were accepted because they produced Greek words that fitted the tablets' logograms and place names, a check from outside the system .

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Logographic script [Concept CPT0DECW02H879M]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/CPT0DECW02H879M
```

Key

**CPT** 0DECW02H879M

Record

Concept

Field

Linguistics

Related

[Decipherment](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW01ZWFP5/decipherment) · [Syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02C55EK/syllabary)

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Related concepts

[Decipherment](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW01ZWFP5/decipherment)[Syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02C55EK/syllabary)

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