iconomatic

I1C3O1N1O1M3A1T1I1C3
UK/ʌɪkɒnəˈmatɪk/

adjective

The use of pictographs to represent their sounds, as in English rebuses using an eye to mean I or in Chinese phonetic transcription of foreign terms into characters.

OriginAncient Greek εἰκών →
Scrabble 16
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Meanings

adjectiveiconomatic (not comparable)

alternative ikonomatic

  1. not comparableThe use of pictographs to represent their sounds, as in English rebuses using an eye to mean I or in Chinese phonetic transcription of foreign terms into characters.

    Iconomatic writing... occupies an intermediate position, standing in some sense in relation to both letter and picture writing.

    1887 January 22, "Iconomatic Writing", Scientific American, Vol. 56, No. 4, p. 56
    1 more example

    We have, so far as I am aware, no scientific term to express this manner of phonetic writing, and I propose for it therefore the adjective ikonomatic...

    1886, Daniel Garrison Brinton, Essays of an Americanist, pages 207–8

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekεἰκών“icon, image, likeness”
  2. Englishiconomatic

A clipping of earlier icononomatic, from a modern combination of Ancient Greek εἰκών (eikṓn, “icon, image, likeness”) + ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic: forming adjectives”).

More words from Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

iconomatic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/iconomatic

MLA

“iconomatic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/iconomatic. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “iconomatic,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/iconomatic.

Source: iconomatic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.