A representation of a word or phrase by pictures or symbols suggesting that word or phrase, or a pictorial riddle of its syllables; also used in heraldry. Term derives from a Latin phrase "non verbis sed rebus" (not by words but by things); but comic puns and satiric squibs published in Paris during carnival were called "de rebus quae geruntur" (on the things that are happening), which attempted to avoid libel actions for reporting such frolicsome follies by employing pictures instead of words. See glyph, hieroglyphics, pictography, ideogram, logogram, semiotics, alphabet, typology, language.