lectosign

L1E1C3T1O1S1I1G2N1
/ˈlɛktoʊˌsaɪn/

noun

In the works of philosopher Gilles Deleuze, a lectosign is an image that must be read as much as it is seen or heard. Deleuze introduced this concept in his book Cinema 2: The Time-Image to describe cinematic images that demand interpretation beyond their immediate visual or auditory presentation.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

nounlectosign (plural lectosigns)

plural lectosigns

  1. film theoryIn the works of philosopher Gilles Deleuze, a lectosign is an image that must be read as much as it is seen or heard. Deleuze introduced this concept in his book Cinema 2: The Time-Image to describe cinematic images that demand interpretation beyond their immediate visual or auditory presentation.

    Thus chronosigns are continually extended into lectosigns and noosigns.

    1989, Gilles Deleuze, translated by Hugh Tomlinson and Robert Galeta, Cinema 2: the Time-Image, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, translation of Cinéma 2, L’Image-temps (in French), page 100
    1 more example

    Suffice it to say that to each of these technical and cinematic details, Deleuze (and Bogue) juxtapose new concepts—crystalline states for the hyalosigns; sheets of past, peaks of present, and powers of the false for chronosigns; linked to the latter, the power of the outside and the interstice for noosigns; and also linked to chronosigns, silent and audible lectosigns as well as the modern dimension of the time-image as "archeological, stratigraphic, and tectonic"

    2003 fall, Charles J. Stivale, “Review of Deleuze on Cinema, by R. Bogue”, in JSTOR, volume 45, number 4, page 531

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Cite this entry
APA

lectosign. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lectosign

MLA

“lectosign.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lectosign. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lectosign,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lectosign.

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