semantogram

plural semantograms

1. A symbol used solely for meaning, as when logographic Chinese symbols are used to represent the meaning of native Japanese words.

   "the majority of Jurchen signs, which included both semantograms and phonograms, were inventions."

   1978, Herbert Franke, Dennis Twitchett, “Introduction”, in The Cambridge History of China, →ISBN, page 32

   1 more example

   One could write OJ namyi ‘wave’ with the sinograph for a Chinese morpheme of similar meaning: 波 EMC *pa ‘wave.’ 波 *pa ‘wave’ would then be a semantogram for OJ namyi, serving as a translation of OJ namyi without representing its sound.

   2003, Marc Hideo Miyake, Old Japanese: A Phonetic Reconstruction, →ISBN

   Synonyms: semantograph, ideograph